87 


THE 


PROPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST, 


RELATED    TO 


THE    VERBAL    INSPIRATION 


HOLY    SCRIPTURES 


BY 

LORD. 


ANSON    D.    F.    RANDOLPH,   No.    G83   BROADWAY. 
1859. 


- 


ENTERED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1859,  by 
ELEAZAR    LORD, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New- York. 


JOHN  A.  GRAY,  Printer  and  Stereotyper, 

18  A  18  Jacob  Bt,  Fire-Proof  Buildings. 


IN  the  ensuing  pages  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  is 
argued:  first,  from  the  nature  and  limitation  of  the  office  of 
Christ  as  Prophet,  and  His  exercise  of  that  office,  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  the  sacred  writers,  by  the  inspiring  agency  of 
the  Holy  Spirit ;  and,  second,  from  the  fact  of  human  conscious- 
ness, that  men  think  and  receive,  and  are  conscious  of  thoughts 
only  in  words — so  that  thoughts  conveyed  to  their  minds  by  in- 
spiration, must  necessarily  be  conveyed  in  words  in  order  to  their 
receiving  and  being  conscious  of  them, 

Piermont,  April,  1859. 


CONTENTS. 


L — THE  PROPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST — His  execution  of  it 
partly  by  His  own  immediate  acts,  and  partly  through 
the  instrumentality  of  the  Sacred  "Writers,  by  the  in- 
spiring Agency  of  the  Spirit, 5 

IL — THE  NATURE  AND  THE  LIMITATIONS  OF  THE  PROPHETIC 

OFFICE, 9 

III. — OF  THE  OFFICE  OF  THE  SPIRIT,  IN  RELATION  TO  THE 

SCRIPTURES, 29 

IV. — THE  NATURE  OF  DIVINE  INSPIRATION,    .       .       .       .35 
Y. — WERE  THE  VERY  WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  TO  THE 

SACRED  WRITERS  BY  INSPIRATION,          .       .       .41 
VL — REFERENCE  TO  THE  VERBAL  INSTRUCTIONS  CONCERNING 
THE  TABERNACLE  AND  THE  LEVITICAL  FAITH  AND 

WORSHIP, 67 

VH — THE  Locos  AND  THE  SPIRIT   REVEALED  IN  THE  OLD 

TESTAMENT — THE  FATHER  CHIEFLY  IN  THE  NEW,   .    77 

VIII. — THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE, 100 

IX — THE  RELATIVE  AND  FINITE  ONLY  CONCEIVABLE  BY  THE 
HUMAN  MIND— SIB  WILLIAM  HAMILTON'S  DOCTRINE 
OF  THE  CONDITIONED— RELATIVE,  LIMITED,      .        .129 
X. — IMPORTANCE  OF  VERBAL  INSPIRATION,    ....  142 


THE 


PROPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 


I.  THE  PKOPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST  —  His  EXE- 
CUTION OF  IT,  PARTLY  BY  HlS  OWN  IMMEDIATE 
ACTS,  AND  PARTLY  THROUGH  THE  INSTRUMEN- 
TALITY OF  THE  SACRED  WRITERS,  BY  THE  INSPIR- 
ING AGENCY  OF  THE  SPIRIT. 

IN  a  former  volume  I  endeavored  to  state  some 
principles  which  seemed  to  me  important,  both  to  a 
right  understanding  of  the  nature  of  Divine  Inspira- 
tion, and  to  a  defense*  of  the  doctrine  of  plenary  verbal 
inspiration :  as,  namely,  that  by  a  law  of  our  minds 
we  think  and  are  conscious  of  thought  only  in  words — 
that  we  conceive  thoughts,  receive  thoughts  from 
others,  are  conscious  of  them,  remember  them,  and 
express  them  only  in  words,  which,  when  uttered, 
represent  them  to  others  as  perfectly  as  we  are  con- 
scious of  them.  This  I  suppose  to  be  as  true  of  all 
other  intelligent  agents  as  of  man — a  universal  law  of 
intellectual  action.  In  our  own  case  we  infer  it  from  our 
consciousness  of  thinking  in  words,  receiving  thoughts 
from  the  verbal  articulations  and  writings  of  others,  and 


6  THE  PROPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

remembering  and  expressing  them  in  the  same  words. 
Each  individual  being  conscious  of  this  for  himself, 
justly  infers  that  the  same  is  true  of  all  other  indi- 
viduals of  his  race.  When  intelligent  agents  of  an- 
other race — as  angels — speak  to  man,  they  convey  their 
thoughts  in  words,  and  in  return  receive  his  thoughts 
in  words ;  which  implies  that  they  think,  are  conscious 
of,  and  remember  their  thoughts  in  words.  If  their 
words  express  their  thoughts,  they  must  undoubtedly 
be  conscious  of  the  thoughts  in  the  words  which  they 
utter,  and  they  must  remember  their  own  thoughts  in 
the  words  they  had  uttered,  if  they  truly  understand 
the  thoughts  in  the  words  uttered  in  reply.  For  how 
could  they  receive  the  words  of  man  in  answer  to  a 
question  put  by  them,  if  they  did  not  remember  the 
words  in  which  they  put  the  question,  and  were  not 
conscious  of  their  own  thoughts  in  the  words  of  the 
question,  and  conscious  of  the  thoughts  returned  in  the 
w&rds  of  the  answer  ? 

So  when  the  Divine  Being  speaks  to  man,  His  words 
convey  His  thoughts.  Man  receives  and  is  conscious 
of  His  thoughts,  by  receiving  and  being  conscious  of 
His  words.  All  that  he  knows  of  the  thoughts  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  words.  The  thoughts  can  not  be  con- 
veyed to  his  understanding,  or  realized  to  his  con- 
sciousness, apart  from  the  words  in  which  they  are 
conceived  and  expressed.  Without  irreverence,  there- 
fore, this  law  of  intellectual  action  may  be  regarded  as 
of  universal  application.  In  the  nature  of  the  case  the 
mode  of  thought,  of  intellectual  action  in  consciously 
thinking,  is  verbal.  A  wordless  thought  is  as  incon- 
ceivable as  a  formless  flower.  Thinking  and  convey- 


THE   PROPHETIC  OFFICE  OF   CHRIST.  7 

ing  thoughts  apart  from  words  or  signs  equivalent  to 
silent  or  vocal  articulations,  is  no  more  possible  than  see- 
ing without  visual,  or  hearing  without  auditory  organs. 

Hence  I  infer  that  the  Divine  thoughts  conveyed  to 
the  sacred  penmen,  were  conveyed  in  the  very  words 
which  they  wrote  as  Holy  Scripture.  1.  Because 
thoughts  can  be  conveyed  from  one  mind  to  another, 
only  in  words  or  equivalent  signs.  2.  Because,  man 
is  so  constituted  that  he  can  not  receive,  and  be  con- 
scious of,  the  thoughts  of  another,  except  in  the  words 
which  properly  express  them.  3.  Because,  the  writer, 
being  conscious  of  the  words  as  he  received  them,  could 
not  write  other  than  those  words,  without  resisting  his 
consciousness,  and  violating  his  integrity.  4.  Because 
words  so  conveyed,  received,  and  written,  are  the  very 
words  of  Him  who  conveyed  them;  whereas,  other 
words  substituted  in  their  place  would  not  be  His. 

With  this  agrees  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  Inspira- 
tion—  Theopneustos — a  Divine  act  conveying  to  the 
sacred  penmen  that  which  they  uttered  in  writing,  re 
alizing  to  their  consciousness  the  thoughts  in  the  words, 
in-breathing  them  in  a  manner  analogous  to  the  im- 
pulsion of  air  into  the  lungs.  All  Scripture — namely, 
that  which  the  sacred  penmen  were  appointed  to  write, 
the  words  which  they  wrote  which  constitute  the 
Scriptures — was  given,  imparted,  conveyed  to  them  by 
Inspiration,  the  in-breathing  act  of  God. 

Now  all  who  believe  the  Scriptures  to  be  of  Divine 
authority,  regard  them  as  one  of  the  very  greatest  gifts 
of  God  to  man.  Their  relations  and  objects  are  such 
as  to  make  it  necessary  to  regard  them  as  the  word  of 
God,  the  infallible  expression,  of  His  thoughts,  His  mind 


8  THE  PKOPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

and  will ;  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  life.  These  claims 
on  their  behalf  are  founded  on  their  inspiration.  Their 
having  been  imparted  to  the  writers  by  inspiration,  the 
act  of  God,  their  Author.  The  thoughts  and  words  ex- 
isted in  the  Divine  Mind  before  they  were  conveyed  to 
the  minds  of  the  sacred  penmen,  and  were  consciously 
received  and  realized  in  their  minds  as  the  words  of 
God  before  they  wrote  them.  As  written,  therefore, 
they  are  the  words  of  God. 

The  Divine  procedure  in  the  bestowment  of  this 
gift  is  in  harmony  with  its  infinite  importance  relatively 
to  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  exigencies  and  destinies 
of  men.  It  was  provided  for  as  an  esssential  part  of 
the  system  of  moral  government,  and  of  redemption, 
to  be  manifested  in  the  progress  of  events,  by  Him, 
who,  as  the  Logos  in  the  beginning,  created  all  things. 
To  Him,  under  the  same  delegated  character,  in  His 
prophetic  office,  is  to  be  ascribed  the  communication 
to  the  world  of  the  words  of  God :  partly  by  His  own 
direct  personal  utterances  to  patriarchs,  prophets,  and 
apostles,  and  partly  by  the  inspiring  agency  of  the 
Spirit,  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  sacred  pen- 
men. It  is  throughout  a  delegated  ministerial  work, 
performed  by  messengers  officially  appointed  to  convey 
and  publish  the  messages  verbatim,  which  were  com- 
mitted to  them  as  legates,  and  to  which  they  were  ex- 
pressly restricted.  If  the  Scriptures  throughout  were 
inspired,  then  every  sentence  and  every  word  of  the 
original  texts  proceeded  from  God,  the  Father  of  lights, 
through  the  Son  as  His  messenger,  the  Spirit  sent  by 
Him,  and  the  sacred  penmen  as  His  instruments. 

I  shall,  therefore,  endeavor  to  show  that  the  pro- 


THE   PKOPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  9 

plietic  office  of  Christ,  the  Kevealer  of  God — the  Logos 
in  the  beginning,  and  the  incarnate  Word  —  expressly 
restricted  Him  to  the  utterance  of  the  words  prescribed 
by  the  Father  whose  Legate  or  Messenger  He  was ; 
that  He  executed  His  office  partly  by  His  own  imme- 
diate acts,  and  partly  by  the  agency  of  the  Spirit  offi- 
cially sent,  under  the  same  express  restrictions,  to  in- 
spire the  prescribed  words  into  the  minds  of  men  ap- 
pointed to  receive  and  utter  them  verbatim  in  writing. 


II.  THE  NATURE  AND  THE  LIMITATIONS  OF  THE  PRO- 
PHETIC OFFICE. 

I  can  not  better  introduce  this  doctrine  than  in  the 
words  of  the  Assembly's  Catechism,  in  answer  to  the 
question :  "  How  doth  Christ  execute  the  office  of  a 
prophet  ?  Christ  executeth  the  office  of  a  prophet  in 
His  revealing  to  the  Church  in  all  ages,  by  His  Spirit 
and  Word,  in  divers  ways  of  administration,  the  whole 
will  of  God,  in  all  things  concerning  their  edification  and 
salvation."  This  plainly  signifies  that  He  executed  that 
office  from  the  first  institution  of  the  Church,  that  He 
executed  it  by  verbal  revelations  and  instructions,  and 
by  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  that  the  communi- 
cations so  made  comprised  all  that  is  written  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures:  all  which,  the  Scriptures  very  clearly  teach. 

In  that  remarkable  summary  of  "statutes  and  judg- 
ments," which  Moses,  at  the  command  of  Jehovah, 
spake  to  the  Children  of  Israel,  and  recorded  in  the 
book  of  Deuteronomy,  there  is  a  concise  description  of 
the  prophetic  office  of  Christ.  Moses  was  about  to  be 


10  THE  PROPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHKIST. 

removed  by  death ;  and  in  view  of  the  future  exigen- 
cies of  his  people,  he  writes  :  "  The  Lord  said  unto  me, 
....  I  will  raise  them  up  a  Prophet  from  among  their 
brethren,  like  unto  thee,  and  will  put  my  words  in  his 
mouth ;  and  he  shall  speak  unto  them  all  that  I  shall 
command  him.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  who- 
soever will  not  hearken  unto  my  words  which  he  shall 
speak  in  my  name,  I  will  require  it  of  him.  But  the 
prophet  which  shall  presume  to  speak  a  word  in  my 
name,  which  I  have  not  commanded  him  to  speak,  or 
that  shall  speak  in  the  name  of  other  gods,  even  that 
prophet  shall  die."  (Deut.  18.)  The  particulars  in 
which  the  Great  Prophet  was  to  be  like  Moses,  were, 
that  he  should  appear  in  the  form  of  man,  raised  up 
from  among  the  Jewish  people,  and  that  he  should 
speak  only  the  words  put  into  his  mouth  by  Jehovah. 
This  is  evident  from  the  context :  for  the  promise  was 
occasioned  by  the  request  of  the  assembled  people  at 
Horeb,  that  they  might  not  hear  again  the  voice  of  the 
Lord  their  God,  nor  see  again  the  terrors  of  Sinai. 
"  They  said  unto  Moses,  speak  thou  with  us,  and  we 
will  hear:  but  let  not  God  speak  with  us,  lest  we  die." 
The  foregoing  announcement  is  expressly  applied  to 
Christ,  the  Logos  Incarnate,  by  the  Apostle  Peter, 
(Acts  3  :  22,)  "For  Moses  truly  said  unto  the  fathers, 
A  prophet  shall  the  Lord  your  God  raise  up  unto  you 
of  your  brethren,  like  unto  me  ;  him  shall  ye  hear  in 
all  things  whatsoever  he  shall  say  unto  you.  And  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  that  every  soul  which  will  not  hear 
that  Prophet,  shall  be  destroyed  from  among  the  peo- 
ple." And,  again,  the  martyr  Stephen  (Acts  7)  quotes 
the  same  prediction  as  designating  "  the  Just  One  "  of 


THE  PKOPHETIC   OFFICE   OF  CHRIST.  11 

whom  his  accusers  had  been  the  betrayers  and  the 
murderers.  That  specialty  of  the  office  which  pro- 
vided that  The  Prophet  should  speak  only  the  words 
put  in  his  moutfi  by  Him  whose  Messenger  he  was,  is 
expressly  recognized,  and  its  fulfillment  attested  by 
Christ  himself.  Thus,  "  He  whom  the  Father  sancti- 
fied and  sent  into  the  world"  declares  of  Himself: 
"  I  came  down  from  heaven,  not  to  do  mine  own 
will,  but  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  me.  .  .  .  My  doc- 
trine is  not  mine,  but  His  that  sent  me.  ...  He  whom 
God  hath  sent,  speaketh  the  words  of  God ;  for  God 
giveth  not  the  Spirit  by  measure  unto  Him.  ...  I  do 
nothing  of  myself;  but  as  my  Father  hath  taught  me, 
I  speak  these  things I  have  not  spoken  of  my- 
self; but  the  Father  which  sent  me,  He  gave  me  a 
commandment,  what  I  should  say  and  what  I  should 
speak."  Again,  addressing  the  Father,  when  about  to 
close  His  direct  personal  teachings,  He  said :  "I  have 
given  unto  them  the  words  which  Thou  gavest  me." 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  Christ,  the  Incarnate 
Word,  in  the  execution  of  His  prophetic  office,  was  at 
liberty  to  speak,  and  actually  spoke,  those  words  only 
which  the  Father  put  into  His  mouth.  He  was  offi- 
cially in  the  strictest  sense,  the  Legate,  Representative, 
Messenger  of  the  Father.  But  He  was  no  less  strictly 
so  under  the  preceding  dispensations,  than  while  He 
personally  sojourned  on  earth  in  the  human  nature. 
As  the  Logos  in  the  beginning,  all  things  were  created 
by  Him,  and  for  Him.  From  the  beginning  He  was 
the  Legate  of  the  Father,  commissioned  to  execute 
His  will  in  the  works  of  Creation,  Providence,  and 
Grace ;  and  sustained  the  offices  of  Prophet,  Priest,  and 


12  THE  PROPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

King — the  Revealer  of  God,  the  Teacher  and -final 
Judge  of  men.  No  man  hath  seen  God  the  Father 
at  any  time ;  the  only  begotten  Son,  who  is  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,  He  hath  declared  Him.  His  ap- 
pointment to  the  subordinate  offices,  relations  and 
agencies  which  he  was  to  sustain  and  execute,  included 
the  offices  of  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King,  as  well  as  the 
works  of  Creation  and  Providence ;  and  it  is  not  more 
certain  that  He  performed  those  works,  and  filled  the 
offices  of  Priest  and  King  during  the  primeval  and 
Levitical  dispensations,  than  that  He  executed,  what 
was  from  the  very  beginning  most  necessary — His 
office  as  Prophet,  Kevealer,  Teacher  and  Law-giver  of 
men.  Accordingly  He  says  :  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
is  upon  me ;  because  the  Lord  hath  anointed  me  " — 
designated  me  to  this  office — "  to  preach  good  tidings 
unto  the  meek ;  He  hath  sent  me  to  bind  up  the  brok- 
en-hearted, to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the 
opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound ;  to  pro- 
claim the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord,  and  the  day  of 
vengeance  of  our  God ;  to  comfort  all  that  mourn," 
etc.,  etc.  Answerable  to  this  was  his  message  to  John 
the  Baptist,  in  proof  that  He  was  the  Prophet  that 
should  come:  "Go  your  way  and  tell  John  what 
things  ye  have  seen  and  heard,  how  that  the  blind  see, 
the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear, 
the  dead  are  raised,  to  the  poor  the  Gospel  is  preached, 
and  blessed  is  he,  whosoever  shall  not  be  offended  in  me." 

To  the  same  effect  are  the  prophetic  references  else- 
where to  His  peculiar  office  as  prophet ;  as  in  Isa. 
59  : 20,  21,  "And  the  Redeemer  shall  come  to  Zion,  and 
unto  them  that  turn  from  transgression  in  Jacob,  saith 


.THE  PROPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  13 

Jehovah.  As  for  me,  this  is  my  covenant  with  them, 
saith  Jehovah ;  my  Spirit  that  is  upon  thee — the  Ee- 
deemer — and  my  words  which  I  have  put  in  thy 
mouth,  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth,  nor  out  of 
the  mouth  of  thy  seed,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy 
seed's  seed,  saith  Jehovah,  from  henceforth  and  for- 
ever." 

Again,  in  the  40th  Psalm,  (quoted  and  applied  Heb. 
10,)  where  the  non-requirement  and  insignificance  of 
the  typical  sacrifices  apart  from  His  obedience  in  His 
prophetic  and  sacerdotal  offices  having  been  brought 
into  view,  it  is  written :  u  Then  said  I,  Lo,  I  come ;  in 
the  volume  of  the  Book  it  is  written  of  me,  I  delight 
to  do  thy  will,  0  my  God ;  yea,  thy  law  is  within  my 
heart.  I  have  preached  righteousness  in  the  great 
congregation ;  lo,  I  have  not  refrained  my  lips.  0 
Lord,  Thou  knowest,  I  have  not  hid  Thy  righteous- 
ness within  my  heart ;  I  have  declared  Thy  faithfulness 
and  Thy  salvation ;  I  have  not  concealed  Thy  loving 
kindness  and  Thy  truth  from  the  great  congregation." 

Under  the  title  of  the  Messenger  (angel)  Jehovah, 
the  Messenger  of  the  Covenant,  as  it  is  expressed  in 
Malachi  3,  He  is  mentioned  many  times  in  the  Pen- 
tateuch and  subsequent  parts  of  the  Old  Testament ; 
generally  as  appearing  to  individuals  on  extraordinary 
occasions,  in  the  visible  likeness  of,  and  as  performing 
acts  proper  to  man — as  speaking  audibly,  receiving 
answers,  giving  directions ;  as  coming,  standing,  walk- 
ing, stretching  forth  his  hand;  as  seeing  and  being 
seen  ;  as  receiving  worship  ;  as  going  before  the  camp 
of  Israel  in  a  pillar  of  cloud,  through  the  Eed  Sea  and 
the  wilderness;  as  speaking  with  Moses  and  with 


14  THE  PEOPHETIC  OFFICE   OF  CHRIST. 

prophets.  When  His  Divine  nature  only  is  referred 
to,  He  is  generally  called  Jehovah.  When  His  official 
character  and  acts,  His  personal  presence  and  visibility 
are  specially  indicated,  He  is  called  the  Messenger,  or 
a  man,  or  is  designated  by  some  official  title.  The 
man  with  whom  Jacob  wrestled,  is  in  Hosea  12  de- 
scribed as  the  Messenger, —  even  the  Lord  God  of 
Hosts,  whose  memorial  is  Jehovah.  "Moses  was  in 
the  church  in  the  wilderness  with  the  Messenger  (Jeho- 
vah) who  spake  to  him  in  the  Mount  Sinai,  and  with 
our  fathers."  (Acts  7  :  38.) 

Thus  the  Logos  from  the  beginning,  under  the 
names  which  designated  His  Divine  nature,  and  under 
the  titles  which  signified  His  subordinate  official  cha- 
racter, and  often  His  visible  presence  and  official  acts,  as 
the  angel,  that  is,  the  Messenger  Jehovah,  the  anointed, 
that  is,  the  Messiah,  etc.,  executed  the  office  of  Kevealer, 
Teacher,  Prophet,  under  the  express  condition  and 
limitation,  proper  to  one  sent  to  deliver  verbatim  the 
messages  of  an  official  superior, — namely,  that  He 
should  utter  no  other  than  the  words  given,  dictated, 
put  into  his  mouth.  Those  words  perfectly  expressed 
what  the  Father  willed  to  have  uttered  in  His  name, 
on  His  authority,  as  the  infallible  rule  of  faith  and 
life. 

But  the  Divine  Prophet,  both  under  the  former  and 
the  present  dispensations,  executed  this  office  in  part 
directly  in  His  own  person,  and  partly  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  messengers,  prophets,  and  apostles, 
appointed  by  Him,  and  directly  subordinate  to  Him. 
Under  the  primeval  dispensation  He  spoke  and  con- 
veyed His  teachings  directly  to  Adam,  Noah,  Job, 


THE  PROPHETIC  OFFICE   OF   CHRIST.  15 

Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob;  and  under  the  Levitical,  to 
Moses,  to  the  assembled  people  at  Mount  Sinai,  to  the 
people  at  Bochim,  to  Gideon,  to  Jephtha,  to  Manoah,  to 
the  children  of  Benjamin,  and  to  others  on  various  oc- 
casions. And  under  those  dispensations,  especially 
after  the  death  of  Moses,  He  exercised  His  prophetic 
office  mediately,  through  the  instrumentality  of  men 
whom  He  designated  and  commissioned  to  speak  His 
words  in  His  name,  as  He  spoke  the  words  of  the 
Father ;  which  words  He  conveyed  to  them  not  by 
His  own  audible  utterances,  as  to  Moses  and  the 
Patriarchs,  but  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  inspiring  them  into 
their  minds,  (realizing  them  to  their  intelligent  con- 
sciousness, whether  in  dreams  or  otherwise.)  Thus 
the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  them,  the  Spirit  spake 
in  them,  by  them,  "by  the  mouth  of  all  His  holy 
prophets  since  the  world  began." 

But  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  He,  in  the  exercise  of 
His  prophetic  office,  could  not  commission  them  as 
His  delegates,  to  do  more  than  was  prescribed  and 
authorized  in  His  commission.  If  He  was  sent  not  to  do 
His  own  will,  not  to  speak  of  Himself,  but  to  speak  only 
the  words  given  Him,  put  in  His  mouth  by  the  Father, 
then  the  prophets,  teachers,  apostles,  messengers,  whom 
He  commissioned  and  sent,  could  do  nothing  of  their 
own  will,  could  utter  no  words  other  than  those  which 
He  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit,  put  into  their 
mouths.  Had  they  presumed  to  utter  a  word  in  His 
name  which  He  had  not  commanded  them  to  utter, 
death  was  the  penalty.  That  penalty  was  signally  ex- 
ecuted in  different  instances,  even  upon  some  who 
were  not  publicly  regarded  as  mere  pretenders  to  the 


16  THE  PROPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

sacred  office.  Thus,  "  the  man  of  God,"  who  was  sent 
with  a  special  message  from  Jehovah  to  Jeroboam, 
1  Kings  13,  and  in  confirmation  of  whose  message  a 
miracle  was  wrought,  disobeyed  in  one  particular  the 
command  which  he  had  received.  He  had  received 
the  most  express  verbal  instructions ;  but  after  faith- 
fully executing  them  in  part,  he  was  induced  by  a  pre- 
tended prophet  who  "  lied  unto  him,"  to  deviate  and 
swerve  from  the  immediate  verbal  directions  of  Je- 
hovah. And,  while  in  the  act  of  disobedience,  a  mes- 
sage from  Jehovah  was  sent  to  him :  "  The  word  of  the 
Lord  came  unto  the  (pretended)  old  prophet,  and  he 
cried  unto  the  man  of  God  .  .  .  saying,  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  Forasmuch  as  thou  hast  disobeyed  the  mouth  of 
the  Lord,  and  hast  not  kept  the  commandment  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  commanded  thee  .  .  .  thy  carcass  shall 
not  come  unto  the  sepulchre  of  thy  fathers."  Accord- 
ingly a  lion  slew  him,  and  he  was  laid  in  the  grave  of 
the  (pretended)  prophet  who  had  seduced  him. 

For  another  instance,  take  that  of  Hananiah,  a  false 
prophet  who  had  predominant  influence  with  Zedekiah 
and  his  princes  and  people,  and  who  prophesied  direct- 
ly in  opposition  to  the  messages  delivered  by  Jeremiah 
from  Jehovah.  "  Then  said  the  prophet  Jeremiah  un- 
to Hananiah  the  prophet,  Hear  now,  Hananiah ;  the 
Lord  hath  not  sent  thee ;  but  thou  makest  this  people 
to  trust  in  a  lie.  Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord,  Be- 
hold I  will  cast  thee  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  . 
So  Hananiah  the  prophet  died."  Of  the  false  prophets 
as  a  class,  in  contradistinction  to  the  true,  it  is  said: 
"  They  speak  a  vision  of  their  own  heart,  and  not  out 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord.  I  have  not  sent 


THE   PROPHETIC   OFFICE   OF  CHRIST.  17 

these  prophets,  yet  they  ran ;  I  have  not  spoken  to 
them,  yet  they  prophesied." 

It  were  to  contradict  all  that  is  recorded  in  Scripture 
on  this  subject,  to  say  that  the  phrases  "  His  words," 
"my  words,"  "the  word  of  the  Lord,"  and  the  like,  in 
the  foregoing  passages  and  elsewhere,  signify  doctrines, 
ideas,  thoughts,  apart  from  words.  For  the  conveyance 
of  thoughts  apart  from  words  is  inconceivable  ;  and  the 
reception  of  thoughts  otherwise  than  in  words,  is  con- 
trary to  the  consciousness  of  all  men.  Besides,  if 
thoughts  only  were  conveyed  to  the  minds  of  the  sacred 
writers,  why  did  not  the  text  simply  express  that,  in- 
stead of  asserting  that  the  words  came,  were  given,  were 
put  into  their  mouths  ? 

Such  being  the  nature  and  limitation  of  their  office, 
those  who  exercised  it  both  before  and  after  the  advent, 
inclusive  of  the  penmen  of  both  Testaments,  were  alike 
bound  by  its  exclusive  rule  in  regard  to  the  source  of 
what  they  might  utter;  and  while,  in  general,  they 
distinctly  recognize  that  rule,  and  profess  to  deliver 
only  what  they  received  in  accordance  with  it,  if  there 
are  historical  or  poetical  books,  which  have  not,  in 
their  contents,  such  explicit  recognition,  they  are  so 
connected  by  quotations  with  other  books  that  have, 
and  by  their  original  revelations  and  predictions,  with 
the  entire  collection,  that  their  being  found  in  the  can- 
on in  the  days  of  Ezra,  and  at  the  advent,  is  proof  suf- 
ficient that  each  and  every  penman  of  them,  exercised 
that  delegated  office,  which,  under  the  highest  sanction, 
restricted  him  to  the  utterance  of  those  words  only, 
which  he  received  immediately  from  God.  Moreover, 
it  may  be  safely  said  that  there  are  in  every  particular 


18  THE  PKOPHETIC   OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

book,  passages,  the  very  words  of  which  must  have 
been  supernaturally  conveyed  to  the  writer.  The  book 
of  Genesis,  written  by  Moses,  consists  wholly  of  such 
passages,  of  which  he  could  have  had  neither  any  per- 
sonal nor  any  historical  knowledge,  or  at  best  nothing 
more  than  floating  popular  traditions  preserved  by  the 
children  of  Israel  in  the  utmost  degeneracy  of  their 
Egyptian  bondage. 

It  was  a  distinct  and  well-defined  class  of  men  that 
exercised  the  prophetic  office,  by  special  Divine  appoint- 
ment, under  the  ancient  dispensation.  They  are  styled 
prophets  and  messengers  of  Jehovah,  who  in  His  name 
uttered  His  words  ;  men  of  God,  as  being  officially  sent 
by  Him  ;  men  to  whom  the  word  of  the  Lord  came,  that 
is,  the  words  uttered  or  inspired  by  Him  ;  and  collective- 
ly, His  holy  prophets,  as  in  the  discourse  of  Peter,  "  God 
hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  His  holy  prophets  since 
the  world  began  ;  "  and  in  his  second  epistle  :  "  Prophe- 
cy came  not  of  old  time  by  the  will  of  man ;  but  holy 
men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost." 

With  this  class,  as  with  the  apostolic  messengers,  the 
office  was  for  life  in  each  instance,  and  ceased  only, 
when,  in  the  one  case,  the  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  in  the  other,  that  of  the  New,  was  completed. 
And  it  is  to  the  men  of  this  class  that  the  penmanship 
of  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  is  ascribed  ;  for 
they  are  collectively  referred  to  and  quoted  from,  as 
the  Scriptures,  the  writings,  of  the  Prophets,  and  Zechariah, 
one  of  the  latest  of  the  class,  characterizes  what  had 
been  previously  written,  as  "  the  words  which  the  Lord 
of  hosts  Lath  sent  in  His  Spirit  by  the  former  pro- 


THE   PROPHETIC  OFFICE   OF  CHRIST.  19 

phets."  These  and  the  like  descriptions  and  definitions 
of  those  sacred  writings,  decide  them  all  to  be  alike  the 
word  of  God.  To  quote  from  any  part  of  any  one  of 
the  books,  is  to  quote  the  word  of  God.  There  is 
neither  any  exception  indicated  in  any  one  of  the  books 
themselves,  nor  any  room  left  for  exception  in  the  terms 
by  which,  collectively,  they  are  characterized.  If  ex- 
ceptions are  assumed  by  human  ignorance  and  presump- 
tion, they  are  assumed  in  opposition  to  the  only  infalli- 
ble evidence  and  ground  of  certainty  in  the  case,  the 
testimony  of  the  Scriptures  themselves.  It  might  with 
reason  be  assumed  that  a  book  professing  to  be  given 
by  inspiration  of  God,  for  the  high  and  far-reaching 
purposes  which  He  had  in  view,  involving  His  own 
glory  and  the  eternal  destiny  of  His  creatures,  and 
confessedly  containing  revelations,  predictions,  laws, 
promises,  from  Him,  must,  in  respect  to  all  its  contents, 
be  His  word  ; — His,  where  it  records  His  own  eternal 
counsels  and  His  acts  of  creation,  providence,  and  grace, 
and  His,  where  the  facts  of  human  history,  and  the 
very  words  spoken  by  men,  angels,  and  devils,  are,  with 
infallible  verity,  reproduced  and  written.  As  the  case 
stands,  to  make  an  exception,  were  there  room  for  one, 
would  require  the  same  supernatural  inspiration  by 
which  the  whole  was  given.  The  case  is  clear,  that  so 
far  as  the  sacred  penmen  wrote  in  their  official  capacity, 
they  wrote  the  very  words  given  them  by  inspiration 
of  God.  If  they  wrote  any  thing  otherwise  than  in 
that  capacity,  any  thing  merely  as  men,  any  thing  at 
their  own  discretion,  any  words  of  their  own  selection, 
such  words  are  not  the  words  of  God,  and  as  honest 
men,  they  should  have  told  us  which  they  were. 


20  THE  PKOPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST. 

Thus  far,  it  is,  I  apprehend,  indubitably  certain ; 
namely,  that  the  prophetic  office  of  Christ  the  Kevealer 
of  God,  and  infallible  Teacher  of  men,  restricted  Him 
to  the  utterance  of  those  words  only  which  the  Father 
gave  Him — put  in  His  mouth ;  that  He  exercised  that 
office  under  the  ancient  dispensations,  from  the  begin- 
ning ;  that  He  exercised  it  in  part  by  His  own  imme- 
diate vocal  utterances,  and  in  part  by  the  mediate  in- 
strumentality of  a  succession  of  men  appointed  by  Him 
as  His  messengers,  to  utter  vocally  and  in  writing,  only 
the  words  which  He  immediately  gave  them,  by  the 
official  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  inspiring  them  ver- 
bally into  their  minds,  as  they  uttered  them.  Some 
further  evidence,  as  to  their  understanding  and  execu- 
tion of  this  delegated  ministerial  office  as  His  messen- 
gers, may  seem  to  be  necessary. 

In  this  collateral  aspect  of  the  subject,  it  is  obvious 
to  begin  with  Moses,  and  then  to  glance  at  the  testimo- 
ny of  his  successors.  And  it  is  proper  first  to  notice 
that  Moses  received  his  call  and  appointment  immedi- 
ately from  Him,  who  in  His  own  delegated  character, 
appeared  to  him,  as  often  afterwards,  enveloped  in  a 
cloudlike  flame,  under  a  title  of  office,  signifying  mes- 
senger, as  in  Malachi  3:1,  though  here  translated  angel, 
as  it  is  in  some  scores  of  instances  where  it  designates 
the  same  official  person,  and  as  an  official  title  is  em- 
ployed interchangeably  with  the  Divine  names  which 
are  appropriate  to  the  respective  persons  of  the  God- 
head as  declaratory,  not  of  their  offices,  but  simply  of 
their  Deity.  The  Messenger  Jehovah,  the  Messenger 
of  the  Covenant,  (Mai.  3,)  Jehovah  the  Son,  in  His 
delegated  character,  as  the  Messenger  of  the  Father, 


THE  PEOPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  21 

sent  to  declare  and  execute  Ills  will,  immediately  by 
His  own  personal  agency,  and  mediately  through 
prophets,  apostles,  messengers  delegated  and  sent  by 
Him — appeared  to  Moses  in  a  flame  of  fire,  out  of  the 

midst  of  a  bush And  Moses  said,  I  will 

now  turn  aside  and  see  this  great  sight.  .  .  .  And 
when  Jehovah  saw  that  he  turned  aside  to  see,  Elohim 
called  unto  him  out  of  the  midst  of  the  bush.  .  .  . 
And  he  said,  I  am  the  God  of  thy  father,  the  God  of 
Abraham,  etc.  .  .  .  And  Moses  hid  his  face,  for 
he  was  afraid  to  look  upon  the  Elohim.  .  .  .  And 
Jehovah  said,  I  have  seen  the  affliction  of  my  people 
which  are  in  Egypt.  .  .  .  And  lam  come  down  to 
deliver  them  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Egyptians,  etc. 
Come  now,  therefore,  and  /  will  send  thee  unto  Pharaoh, 
that  thou  mayst  bring  forth  my  people  out  of  Egypt. 

It  is  plain  that  the  title  and  the  names  above  given, 
designate  the  same  Divine  Person  in  His  delegated 
character,  and  that  it  was  in  the  immediate  exercise  of 
His  personal  agency  in  that  character  that  He  appoint- 
ed and  sent  Moses  to  speak  and  act  in  His  name  ;  and 
that  He  personally  instructed  and  directed  him  in  all 
the  details  of  his  subordinate  ministry.  In  the  pro- 
gress of  the  instructions  and  announcements  from  the 
Messenger  Jehovah  at  this  first  appearance,  Moses  in- 
terposed a  variety  of  objections  to  his  undertaking  the 
proffered  mission ;  and  among  others  that  of  his  not 
being  a  fluent  speaker.  "  And  the  Lord  said  unto  him, 
Who  hath  made  man's  mouth  ?  or  who  maketh  the 
dumb,  or  deaf,  or  the  seeing,  or  the  blind?  Have 
not  I,  the  Lord  ?"  Have  not  I,  the  Creator,  Preserver, 
and  Euler  of  all  creatures,  given  man  the  faculty  of 


22  THE   PROPHETIC  OFFICE   OF  CHRIST. 

speech  ?  "  Now  therefore,  go,  and  I  will  be  with  thy 
mouth,  and  teach  ihee  what  thou  shall  say"  Moses  still 
demurring,  Jehovah  condescended  to  appoint  Aaron 
to  sustain  precisely  the  same  office  in  relation  to  MoseSj 
that  He  appointed  Moses  to  sustain  towards  Himself. 
The  same  words  which  He  should  speak  to  Moses, 
Moses  was  to  speak  to  Aaron,  and  Aaron  to  Pharaoh 
and  the  people.  "  Thou  shalt  speak  unto  him,  and 
put  words  in  his  mouth :  and  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth 
and  with  his  mouth,  and  will  teach  you  what  ye  shall 
do.  And  he  shall  be  thy  spokesman  unto  the  people : 
and  he  shall  be,  even  he  shall  be  to  ihee  instead  of  a  mouth, 
and  thou  shalt  be  to  him,  instead  of  God"  A  more 
precise  description,  or  emphatic  limitation,  of  the  office, 
by  which  the  incumbent  was  to  utter  no  other  than 
the  words  put  into  his  mouth  by  the  Superior  who  ap- 
pointed him,  can  be  conceived  or  expressed  in  human 
language. 

I  need  not  say,  or  confirm  by  any  extended  refer- 
ences, that  Moses  exercised  his  ministry  to  the  day  of 
his  death,  in  conformity  to  this  description  and  limita- 
tion. In  general,  what  he  uttered  is  prefaced  by  "  the 
Lord  said  unto  Moses,"  or  other  equivalent  formulas. 
When  he  wrote,  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  immediate  Author 
and  Inspirer  of  the  Scriptures  to  be  the  instrument  of 
His  own  official  agency  in  the  illumination,  renovation, 
and  sanctification  of  men,  conveyed  to  his  mind,  real- 
ized to  his  consciousness,  precisely  what  he  should 
write. 

There  is  an  inherent  incongruity  and  absurdity  in 
supposing  that  the  immediate  Messenger  of  the  Father, 
and  the  inferior  messengers  appointed  by  Him,  should 


THE  PROPHETIC  OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  23 

be  limited  to  the  vocal  utterance  of  the  very  words 
given  to  them  respectively,  and  that  the  inferior  mes- 
sengers, when  called  to  write,  should  be  exempt  from 
such  limitation,  and  left  to  exercise  any,  the  smallest 
discretion,  in  the  choice  of  thoughts  or  words,  to  be 
published  for  the  instruction,  and  as  the  infallible  rule 
of  faith  and  life,  of  all  nations,  during  all  times,  and 
the  rule  of  final  judgment  and  eternal  retribution ! 
With  what  jealous  care  this  specialty  of  the  prophetic 
office  was  guarded,  and  with  what  severity  infringe- 
ments of  it  were  avenged,  is  manifest  not  only  in  the 
destruction  of  individuals,  and  of  whole  companies  of 
the  professed  prophets  of  Baal,  from  time  to  time,  but 
in  the  signal  retribution  miraculously  visited  upon  the 
aspirants  and  usurpers  of  the  office  of  Moses  during  his 
personal  ministry.  Thus  when  "Miriam  and  Aaron 
spake  against  Moses,  .  .  .  and  said,  Hath  the 
Lord  indeed  spoken  only  by  Moses?  Hath  he  not 
spoken  also  by  us?  The  Lord  heard  it  and  spake 
suddenly  unto  Moses,  and  unto  Aaron,  and  unto  Miri- 
am, Come  out,  ye  three  unto  the  tabernacle  of  the  con- 
gregation. And  they  three  came  out.  And  the  Lord 
came  down  in  the  pillar  of  the  cloud,  and  stood  in  the 
door  of  the  tabernacle,  and  called  Aaron  and  Miriam : 
and  they  both  came  forth.  And  He  said,  Hear  now 
my  words  :  if  there  be  a  prophet  among  you," — that  is, 
a  prophet  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  that  word — "I  the 
Lord  will  make  myself  known  unto  him  in  a  vision, 
and  will  speak  unto  him  in  a  dream." — As  He  often  did 
to  the  prophets  of  subsequent  times, — "  My  servant  Mo- 
ses is  not  so" — not  a  mere  prophet,  but  represents  me  as 
Head  of  the  civil  and  ritual,  as  well  as  the  prophetic 


2-i  THE  PROPHETIC  OFFICE   OF  CHRIST. 

administration, — "who  is  faithful  in  all  my  house. 
"With  him  will  I  speak  mouth  to  mouth,  even  appar- 
ently, and  not  in  dark  speeches ;  and  the  similitude  of 
the  Lord  shall  he  behold  :  wherefore  then  were  ye  not 
afraid  to  speak  against  my  servant  Moses  ?  And  the 
anger  of  the  Lord  was  kindled  against  them  ;  and  He 
departed.  And  the  cloud  departed  from  off  the  taber- 
nacle ;  and  behold  Miriam  became  leprous  as  white  as 
snow,"  etc.  (Numbers  12.)  And  when  Korah  and  his 
confederates  rebelled,  "  and  gathered  themselves  togeth- 
er against  Moses,  and  against  Aaron,  and  said  unto 
them,  Ye  take  too  much  upon  you,  seeing  all  the  con- 
gregation are  holy,  every  one  of  them,  and  the  Lord  is 
among  them :  wherefore  then  lift  ye  up  yourselves 
above  the  congregation  of  the  Lord  ?"  .  .  .  "Moses 
said,  Hereby  ye  shall  know  that  the  Lord  hath  sent  me 
to"  do  all  these  works ;  for  I  have  not  done  them  of 
mine  own  mind.  If  these  men  die  the  common  death 
of  all  men  .  .  .  then  the  Lord  hath  not  sent  me  ; 
but  if  the  Lord  make  a  new  thing,  and  the  earth  open 
her  mouth  and  swallow  them  up,  .  .  .  then  ye 
shall  understand  that  these  men  have  provoked  the 
Lord.  And  it  came  to  pass  as  he  made  an  end  of 
speaking  all  these  words,  that  the  ground  clave  asun- 
der that  was  under  them  .  .  .  and  swallowed 
them  up,  and  their  houses,  and  all  that  appertained  to 
them."  The  next  day,  the  whole  "congregation  mur- 
mured against  Moses  and  Aaron,  saying,  Ye  have 
killed  the  people  of  the  Lord  ;"  when  by  a  supernatu- 
ral influence  fourteen  thousand  and  seven  hundred  of 
them  were  instantly  destroyed.  (Numb.  16.) 
Thus  the  law  of  the  prophetic  office,  as  limiting  the 


THE  PKOPHETIC   OFFICE  OF  CHRIST.  25 

prophet  to  the  utterance  only  of  the  words  put  into  his 
mouth,  as  the  messenger  of  Jehovah,  was  established, 
and  vindicated,  and  rendered  obligatory,  and  impera- 
tive, on  pain  of  death,  on  all  who  were  appointed  to 
that  office  ;  and  as  such  it  was  understood  and  acknow- 
ledged by  the  successive  prophets  after  Moses.  By  this 
law,  they  were,  from  its  nature,  origin,  and  object,  as 
necessarily  subject  to  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the 
Spirit  in  what  they  uttered  in  writing,  as  they  were  to 
the  audible  utterances  of  Jehovah  in  what  they  vocally 
delivered  in  His  name.  He  therefore  spoke  directly  to 
them,  commanded  them  to  repeat  His  words,  put  His 
words  into  their  mouth,  taught  them,  prescribed  to 
them  what  they  should  say.  His  word,  His  articulate 
utterance,  whether  of  prediction,  or  narrative,  precept, 
or  promise,  encouragement  or  threatening,  came  to 
them,  not  at  their  will  and  pleasure,  but  as  passive  re- 
cipients. 

Accordingly,  the  Lord,  by  His  own  articulate  vocal 
utterance,  called  Samuel  to  the  prophetic  office ;  "  ap- 
peared to  him,  and  revealed  Himself  to  him  by  the  word 
of  the  Lord ;"  spoke  to  him  directly  on  various  occasions, 
and  specifically  directed  him  what  to  say,  what  words 
to  speak ;  and  he  spoke  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  the 
words  which  he  received  from  Him.  When,  by  im- 
mediate Divine  direction,  he  anointed  David  to  be  king, 
"the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came  upon  David  from  that 
day  forward."  David,  at  the  close  of  his  career  as  head 
of  the  civil  administration,  and  as  a  prophet,  psalmist, 
and  sacred  writer,  said :  {  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  spake 
by  me,  and  His  word  was  in  my  tongue.  The  God  of 
Israel  said,  the  Eock  of  Israel  spake  to  me." 
2 


26  THE  PROPHETIC  OFFICE   OF  CHRIST. 

The  word  of  the  Lord  came  on  successive  occasions 
to  Elijah,  and  he  as  often  delivered  the  verbal  messages 
which  he  had  received.  At  length,  by  express  com- 
mand of  Jehovah  he  anointed  Elisha  to  be  prophet  in 
his  stead,  who  also  received  and  uttered  special  mes- 
sages from  Jehovah.  Micaiah,  a  true  prophet,  being 
importuned  to  concur  with  the  false  prophets  of  Ahab, 
said,  though  threatened  with  imprisonment  and  suffer- 
ing, "  As  the  Lord  liveth,  what  the  Lord  saith  unto 
me,  that  will  I  speak."  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and 
the  twelve  minor  prophets,  each,  from  paragraph  to 
paragraph,  describes  what  he  wrote,  as  immediately 
from  Jehovah.  Daniel,  in  part,  received  verbal  com- 
munications through  the  intermediate  agency  of  the 
angel  Gabriel.  By  what  minute  provisions,  and  special 
acts  and  arrangements,  the  prophets  were  selected, 
raised  up,  qualified,  appointed  and  sent,  though  not 
particularly  specified  in  every  instance,  may  be  seen 
by  reference  to  the  case  of  one  or  two  of  them.  Thus 
Jeremiah,  chap.  1 :  "  The  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto 
me,  saying,  Before  I  formed  thee,  I  knew  thee,  and  be- 
fore thou  wast  born,  I  sanctified,  and  I  ordained  thee 
a  prophet  unto  the  nations.  Then  said  I,  Ah,  Lord 
God,  behold  I  can  not  speak,  for  I  am  a  child.  But 
the  Lord  said  unto  me,  Say  not  I  am  a  child :  for  thou 
shalt  go  to  all  that  I  shall  send  thee,  and  whatsoever  I  shall 
command  thec,  thou  shalt  speak.  Be  not  afraid  of  their 
faces :  for  I  am  with  thee  to  deliver  thee,  saith  the 
Lord.  Then  the  Lord  put  forth  His  hand,  and  touched 
my  mouth  ;  and  the  Lord  said  unto  me,  Behold,  I  have 
put  my  words  in  thy  mouth."  Jeremiah,  accordingly, 
from  time  to  time,  spoke  the  very  words  which  Jeho- 


THE   PROPHETIC   OFFICE   OF  CHRIST.  27 

vah  spoke  immediately  to  him.  When  he  wrote,  he 
employed  Baruch  as  his  scribe,  as  Aaron  was  employed 
as  the  spokesman  of  Moses.  "  And  Baruch  wrote  from 
the  mouth  of  Jeremiah  all  the  words  of  the  Lord, 
which  He  had  spoken  unto  him."  (Jer.  36.)  Those 
words  which  he  so  wrote  on  one  particular  occasion, 
comprised  the  verbal  utterances  of  Jehovah  to  him 
during  the  preceding  score  of  years,  the  recalling  of 
which  therefore,  so  as  to  dictate  them  with  infallible 
accuracy,  we  may  justly,  and  with  confidence,  ascribe 
to  the  inspiration  of  them  into  his  mind,  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  as  he  uttered  them  to  Baruch.  Again,  with 
respect  to  the  great  contemporary  of  Jeremiah,  who 
was  called  to  the  prophetic  office  from  among  the  cap- 
tives in  Chaldea.  "  The  word  of  the  Lord  came  ex- 
pressly to  Ezekiel  ...  by  the  river  Chebar ;  and 
the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  there  upon  him."  To  fit 
him  for  the  service  to  which  he  was  called,  he  first 
had  a  vision  of  the  Messenger  Jehovah  as  seated  on  a 
throne.  "  Upon  the  likeness  of  the  throne,  was  the 
likeness  as  the  appearance  of  a  man  above  upon  it. 
.  .  This  was  the  appearance  of  the  likeness  of  the 
glory  of  Jehovah.  And  when  I  saw  it,  I  fell  upon  my 
face,  and  I  heard  a  voice  of  One  that  spake.  And  He 
said  unto  me,  Son  of  man,  stand  upon  thy  feet,  and  I 
will  speak  unto  thee.  And  the  Spirit  entered  into  me 
when  He  spake  unto  me,  and  set  me  upon  my  feet, 
that  I  heard  Him  that  spake  unto  me.  And  He  said 
unto  me,  Son  of  man,  I  send  thee  unto  the  children  of 
Israel.  .  .  .  And  thou  shalt  speak  my  words  unto 
them,  whether  they  will  hear,  or  whether  they  will  for- 
bear." Next,  to  show  him  unmistakably,  the  nature 


28  THE  PROPHETIC  OFFICE  OF   CHRIST. 

and  limit  of  his  prophetic  office,  the  voice  from  the 
throne  said :  "  Hear  what  I  say  unto  thee,  .  .  eat 
that  I  give  thee.  And  when  I  looked,  behold  an  hand 
was  sent  unto  me ;  and  lo,  a  roll  of  a  book  was  therein, 
and  He  spread  it  before  me ;  and  it  was  written  within 
and  without.  .  .  .  Moreover,  He  said  unto  me, 
Son  of  man,  eat  this  roll,  and  go,  speak  unto  the  house 
of  Israel.  So  I  opened  my  mouth,  and  he  caused  me 
to  eat  that  roll.  .  .  .  And  He  said  unto  me,  Son 
of  man,  go.  get  thee  unto  the  house  of  Israel,  and  speak 
wiifi  my  words  unto  them,  ...  all  my  words  that 
I  shall  speak  unto  thee  receive  in  thine  heart,  and  hear 
with  thine  ears.  ...  I  have  made  thee  a  watch- 
man unto  the  house  of  Israel,  therefore  hear  the  word 
at  my  mouth.  .  .  .  When  I  speak  with  thee,  I 
will  open  thy  mouth,  and  thou  shalt  say  unto  them, 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  God."  (Ezek.  1-3.) 

Isaiah  was  called,  instructed,  and  sent,  in  a  similar 
manner.  He  saw  the  Lord,  the  Messenger  Jehovah,  in 
the  form  of  man,  sitting  upon  a  throne,  and,  over- 
whelmed with  a  sense  of  his  own  corruption,  and  un- 
worthiness  he  said :  "  Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King, 
the  Lord  of  Hosts.  .  .  .  Also  I  heard  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  saying,  Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who  will  go 
for  us  ?  Then  said  I,  Here  am  I ;  send  me.  And  He 
said,  Go,"  etc.  (Isa.  6.)  It  was  Christ  whose  glory  he 
saw,  and  who  spoke  to  him,  and  commissioned  him  as 
His  messenger.  (See  John  12.)  Daniel,  also,  saw  the 
same  Divine  person,  in  the  likeness  of  the  Son  of  Man. 
(Danl.  7.)  And  Amos,  when  about  to  utter  some  spe- 
cial and  most  important  prediction,  says :  "I  saw  the 
Lord  standing  upon  the  altar :  and  He  said,  Smite  the 
lintel  of  the  door  that  the  posts  may  shake."  (Amos  9.) 


THE  OFFICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.  29 


III.  OF  THE  OFFICE  OF  THE  SPIRIT,   IN  KELATION 
TO    THE  SCRIPTURES. 

A  consideration  of  the  Office  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  economy  of  redemption,  will  lead  us  to  the 
same  results  in  respect  to  the  nature  and  limitation  of 
the  prophetic  office  of  Christ,  and  of  the  subordinate 
office  of  His  messengers,  the  prophets  of  the  Old,  and 
the  apostles  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is  according  to 
the  teachings  of  Scripture,  and  according  to  the  faith 
of  the  Church  of  God  in  all  ages,  that  the  three  Per- 
sons of  the  Godhead  subsisted  eternally  as  persons,  co- 
equal in  nature,  and  independently  of  all  external 
works,  manifestations,  and  relations  towards  creatures. 
And  it  is  no  less  evident  from  the  teachings  of  Scrip- 
ture, its  revelations,  and  its  record  of  facts  and  events, 
in  the  progress  of  the  Divine  dispensations,  and  of  the 
redemption,  sanctification,  and  perpetuation  of  the 
Church,  that  those  Persons  entered  into  a  covenant, 
prior  to,  and  concerning  the  works  of  creation,  provi- 
dence, and  grace,  that  is,  all  external  works,  as  being 
foreordained  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  and 
centering  in  the  chiefest  of  them,  the  work  of  redemp- 
tion :  and  that  on  the  basis  of  such  covenant,  and  in 
reference  to  the  execution  of  it,  in  and  throughout  all 
the  ages  of  time,  they  assumed  official  relations  towards 
each  other,  and  towards  the  creatures  that  were  to  be 
brought  into  existence ;  so  that,  while  they  remain 
three  Persons  in  one  essence  and  one  will,  their  acts  to- 
wards the  dependent  universe  are  personal  and  official 
acts,  arising  from  their  official  relations.  Hence  the 


30  THE   OFFICE   OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 

Scripture  names  and  designations  which  refer  exclu- 
sively to  the  Divine  nature  are  common  to  them  all, 
while  each  of  them,  in  His  official  character  and  rela- 
tions, is  referred  to  by  distinctive  titles  and  appellations, 
not  appropriated  to  the  others.  Thus  the  Father  offi- 
cially represents  the  will  of  the  Godhead  which  is  exe- 
cuted by  the  Son  and  the  Spirit  in  respect  to  all  the 
works  in  question.  The  Son  is  officially  subordinate 
to  the  Father,  the  immediate  Messenger  of  the  covenant, 
the  primary  agent  in  the  execution  of  the  Father's  will, 
and  the  accomplishment  of  those  works.  And  the 
Spirit  is  officially  subordinate  to  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  and  is  sent  by  them  and  either  of  them,  as  the  Son 
is  sent  by  the  Father. 

The  office  of  the  Spirit  is  therefore  specific  and  lim- 
ited, as  that  of  a  Messenger  of  the  Father  and  the  Son. 
It  can  not  transcend  that  will  of  the  Father  which  the 
Son  was  commissioned  to  reveal  and  execute,  nor  be 
otherwise  than  subordinate  to  the  official  prerogative 
of  the  Son.  In  a  word,  then,  if  the  Son,  as  the  Messen- 
ger of  the  Father,  eould  do  no  act  not  prescribed  by 
Him,  and  could  utter  no  word  not  given  or  dictated 
by  Him,  and  if  He  could  not  commission  and  send  as 
His  official  messengers — the  prophets  and  apostles — to 
do  more  than  His  own  commission  authorized,  it  fol- 
lows clearly  that  the  Spirit  in  executing  His  official 
agency,  is  limited  by  the  same  conditions  as  the  Son. 

In  relation  to  the  words  of  Scripture,  therefore,  He 
could  utter,  inspire  into,  speak  by  the  mouth  of,  the 
prophetic  and  apostolic  messengers  of  the  Son,  only  the 
very  words  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  as  they  were 
given  to  Him.  He  could  no  more  assist  or  guide  the 


THE   OFFICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.  31 

sacred  writers  to  utter  other  words,  whether  relating  to 
what  they  knew  before  or  not,  than  the  Son,  as  Mes 
senger  of  the  Father,  sent  to  speak  only  His  words, 
could  commission  His  subordinate  ministerial  instru- 
ments to  speak  or  write  other  than  the  words  which 
He  put  into  their  mouths.  And  if  the  sacred  penmen 
actually  wrote  any  other  than  the  words  put  into  their 
mouths  immediately  by  -the  Son,  or  mediately,  from 
the  Father  or  the  Son,  by  the  Spirit  speaking  in  and 
by  them,  such  words  were  not  the  words  of  God,  but 
merely  the  words  of  men.  No  conceivable  assistance 
or  guidance  could  transform  them  into  the  words  of 
God,  or  bring  them  within  the  rule  of  official  prescrip- 
tion and  authorization.  The  servant  is  not  greater 
than  his  master. 

The  official  works  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  this  great 
economy,  may  be  classed  under  several  distinct  heads. 

1.  That  of  inspiring  into  the  minds  of  the  subor- 
dinate messengers,  prophets,  apostles,  and  evangelists 
the  words  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  to  be  uttered, 
vocally  and  in  writing  by  them.     This  official  opera- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  largely  attested  with  refer- 
ence to  the  Scriptures   collectively.     It  is  variously 
described  as  teaching  the  sacred  writers,  giving  them 
what  they  were  to  utter,  speaking  in  them  and  by  them, 
revealing  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  to  them. 

2.  That  of  quickening,  regenerating,    illuminating, 
sanctifying  the  souls  of  men.     In  this  He  employs  as 
His  instrument  the  word  of  God,  and  that  only — the 
words  of  Scripture,  of  all  and  every  part  of  Scripture — 


32  THE   OFFICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 

the  words  which  He  Himself  had  spoken  by  the  mouths 
of  prophets  and  apostles.  These  are  the  preexistent 
seeds  and  germs  which  He  plants  in  the  heart  and 
quickens  into  faith  and  life — the  words  by  which 
faith  cometh,  the  words  of  life,  the  sword  of  the  Spirit, 
the  word  of  God. 

3.  That  of  operating  miraculously  on  physical  and 
intellectual  natures.  Thus  the  Spirit  of  God  came 
upon  Saul  and  also  upon  his  messengers,  producing  ef- 
fects, apparently  on  their  bodies  and  their  minds.  (1 
Saml.  10.)  Ezekiel  says  :  "  The  Spirit  lifted  me  up  and 
took  me  away,  and  I  went  in  bitterness,"  etc.  The 
Spirit  caught  away  Philip,  after  he  had  baptized  the 
eunuch,  and  he  was  found  at  Azotus.  (Acts  8.) 

The  miraculous  gifts  conferred  on  the  apostles  and  on 
others  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  afterwards,  for 
special  purposes,  and  during  a  limited  period,  are  to  be 
classed  under  this  head.  The  gifts  of  tongues,  of  in- 
terpreting tongues,  of  discerning  spirits,  and  others, 
were  peculiar  to  that  period,  and  had  no  connection 
whatever  with  the  origin,  bestowment,  or  writing,  of 
any  part  of  the  Scriptures. 

The  words  of  Christ  are  the  words  of  the  Father  by 
Him  as  sent  of  the  Father.  The  words  of  the  Spirit 
which  constitute  the  Scriptures,  are  the  words  of  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  by  Him,  as  sent  by  them*  As 
communicated  by  God  the  Spirit,  and  written,  they  are 
the  words  of  God  in  the  same  sense  as  the  verbal  dis- 
courses of  God  the  Son  were  His  words.  It  was  the 
office  of  the  Spirit  as  sent  by  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
to  utter  the  words  of  Scripture  in  writing,  through  the 


THE   OFFICE   OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.  33 

instrumentality  of  the  sacred  penmen;  as  it  was  the 
office  of  the  Son,  as  sent  of  the  Father,  audibly  to  speak 
His  words  to  the  patriarchs,  to  Moses  and  others,  un- 
der the  former,  and  to  His  disciples  and  the  Jewish 
people  under  the  present  dispensation. 

It  was  to  supply,  to  the  disciples,  the  apostles,  and 
the  Church,  the  place  of  Christ's  personal  presence  and 
teachings  after  His  resurrection  and  ascension,  that  the 
official  agency  of  the  Spirit  was  promised  and  exerted, 
as  it  was  vouchsafed  and  exerted  towards  the  pro- 
phets and  sacred  penmen  of  the  Old  Testament. 
That  official  agency  was'  as  necessary,  and  as  much  a 
provision  of  the  eternal  covenant,  to  Enoch,  Noah,  the 
patriarchs,  Moses,  and  all  the  prophets  after  him,  as  to 
the  apostles  and  evangelists  of  the  New  Testament.  It 
was  a  part  of  the  works  towards  creatures,  by  which 
the  will  of  the  Father  was  executed.  Therefore,  when 
about  to  withdraw  as  to  His  local,  personal  presence 
and  ministry,  Christ  said,  "  The  Comforter,"  that  is, 
the  Paraclete,  the  Monitor,  or  Teacher,  "  which  is  the 
Holy  Ghost,  whom  the  Father  will  send  in  my  name, 
He  shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to 
your  remembrance" — realize  anew  to  your  conscious- 
ness— "  whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you."  "  When 
the  Comforter  is  come,  whom  I  will  send  unto  you 
from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  which  pro- 
ceedeth  from  the  Father,  He  shall  testify  of  me.  .  . 
When  He,  the  Spirit  of  truth  is  come,  He  will  guide 
you  into  all  truth  :  for  He  shall  not  speak  of  Himself; 
but  whatsoever  He  shall  hear,  that  shall  He  speak ;  and 
He  shall  show  you  things  to  come.  He  shall  glorify 
me :  for  he  shall  receive  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it  unto 


34  THE  OFFICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 

you.  All  tilings  that  the  Father  hath  are  mine  :  there- 
fore said  I,  that  He  shall  take  of  mine,  and  shall  show 
it  unto  you.  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away  ; 
for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto 
you  ;  but  if  I  depart,  /  will  send  Him  unto  you."  (John 
14-16.)  Such  is  the  express  commission  and  office  of 
the  Spirit,  as  Messenger  of  the  Father  and  Son,  delega- 
ted to  speak  not  of  Himself,  not  His  own  words,  but 
only  the  words  of  the  Father  and  Son.  As  the  words 
which  thevSon  spoke,  were,  1,  the  words  of  the  Father, 
officially  representing  the  Godhead,  and  2d,  His  words, 
as  having  received  them  in  His  delegated  character 
from  the  Father ;  so  the  words  which  the  Spirit  offi- 
cially spoke,  recalled,  inspired  into  the  minds  of  the  apos- 
tles and  sacred  writers,  were  the  words  of  Christ  as  re- 
ceived by  Him,  and  of  the  Father  primarily  prescribing 
them  as  the  will  of  the  self-existent,  eternal,  invisible 
Deity.  They  are,  therefore,  in  the  most  absolute  and 
exclusive  sense,  the  words  of  God — the  published,  irre- 
vocable, infallible  declarations — in  the  only  form  adapt- 
ed to  intelligent  creatures,  of  Himself,  of  His  will,  of 
His  relations,  of  the  rules  and  measures  of  His  admin- 
istration, and  the  rules  of  human  faith  and  conduct ; 
His  words,  not  to  men  only,  but  to  the  whole  universe : 
not  for  time  only,  but  for  all  the  future  of  His  kingdom : 
the  instrument  of  all  spiritual  influences ;  the  basis  on 
which  all  holy  intelligences  in  heaven  and  earth,  are 
at  length  to  be  united. 

He  who  denies  this  delegated  office  of  the  Spirit,  in 
relation  to  the  words  of  Scripture,  must  equally  deny  the 
delegated  office  of  Christ  in  relation  to  the  words,  audi- 
bly spoken  by  Him :  and  he  who  holds  to  and  believes 


•THE  NATURE   OF  DIVINE   INSPIRATION.  35 

in  the  reality  and  limitation  of  these  offices  in  respect 
to  the  New  Testament  economy,  must  equally  believe 
in  them  in  respect  to  the  Old.  For  in  this  respect  the 
two  economies  are  identical,  founded  on  the  same  cov- 
enant, parts  of  the  same  system,  executed  by  the  same 
Divine  Persons,  in  the  same  relations,  and  issuing  in  the 
same  specific  result,  the  publication  of  the  Word  of  God 
in  writing. 


IV.  THE  NATURE  OF  DIVINE  INSPIRATION. 

The  way  is  thus  prepared,  to  show  what  is  the  na- 
ture of  Divine  Inspiration ;  and  I  define  it  to  be  an 
act  of  God,  in  the  person  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  which 
He  breathed  into  the  mind  of  the  sacred  writers,  the 
words  which  they  uttered  in  writing.  Or,  in  other 
words :  It  is  an  act  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  His  dele- 
gated official  capacity,  by  which  He  conveyed  into  the 
minds  of  the  holy  prophets  and  sacred  writers,  the 
words  of  God,  as  they  uttered  them  vocally  and  in 
writing. 

This  is  clearly  contained  in  the  Spirit's  commission 
as  Teacher  of  all  things,  remembrancer  of  all  that 
Christ  had  spoken,  exhibitor  of  things  to  come,  and  of 
all  things  relating  to  the  Father  and  the  Son.  The 
word  Inspiration  signifies  an  act  of  breathing  into — 
inspiring  words  into  the  mind  by  an  act  resembling 
that  of  inspiring  air  into  the  lungs.  This  is  its  only 
meaning  as  used  in  Scripture.  The  Scriptures  speak 
of  this,  and  of  no  other  kind  of  inspiration.  It  is  an 
act  by  which  something  is  conveyed  from  one  person 


36  THE  NATURE  OF  DIVINE  INSPIRATION. 

to  another ;  and  in  Scripture  is  often  understood  and 
implied  where  the  word  itself  is  not  inserted.  But  it 
is  inserted  where  a  general  affirmation  is  made,  con- 
cerning the  entire  Scriptures  as  the  Word  of  God.  As 
(2  Tim.  3:16)  "  All  Scripture  is  given  ~by  Inspiration 
of  God"  All  Scripture,  all  the  words  written  in  the 
holy  books — given,  imparted,  conveyed  by  inspiration 
— the  act  of  God  the  Spirit  breathing  them  into  the 
minds  of  the  writers  :  equivalent  to  saying,  all  the 
words  which  God  in  the  person  of  the  Father,  saw 
fit,  and  determined  to  have  written  as  His,  on  His  au- 
thority, in  His  name,  as  the  infallible  rule  of  faith  and 
life  to  His  rational  creatures,  He  in  the  Person  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  conveyed  immediately  by  inspiration  to 
the  intelligent  consciousness  of  those  whom  He  ap- 
pointed to  write  them. 

When  this  inspired  affirmation  was  uttered  by  the 
pen  of  Paul,  the  canon  of  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
had  long  been  settled,  and  at  least  two,  and  probably 
three  of  the  Gospels,  all  the  other  Epistles  of  Paul, 
those  of  Peter,  and  probably  the  whole  New  Testa- 
ment, except  the  Gospel,  Epistles,  and  Eevelation  of 
John,  had  been  written  and  were  extant ;  and  there 
can  be  no  reason  assigned  why  Paul  should  not  have 
included  these  writings  in  all  Scripture  given  by  in- 
spiration, which  would  not  equally  have  prevented 
Peter,  in  his  second  Epistle,  referring  to  all  the  Epis- 
tles of  Paul  as  containing  things  which  the  ignorant 
and  unstable  wrested,  as  they  did  also  the  other  Scrip- 
tures,  to  their  own  destruction.  What  was  meant  by 
the  Scripture,  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  Word  of  God, 
was,  at  least,  as  correctly  understood  at  that  period  as 


THE  NATURE  OF  DIVINE  INSPIRATION.  37 

it  is  at  present.  They  are  quoted  and  referred  to  by 
the  New  Testament  writers,  as  the  Word  of  God, 
spoken  by  the  Spirit,  by  the  mouth  of  the  writers. 
Thus  in  Heb.  3,  the  writer,  after  contrasting  Christ  as 
the  Son  over  His  own  house,  and  as  the  Apostle,  that 
is,  the  Messenger,  with  Moses,  who  was  faithful  as  a 
servant,  adds:  "Wherefore,  as  the  Holy  Ghost  saith, 
1  To  day  if  ye  will  hear  His  voice,  harden  not  your 
hearts,  as  in  the  provocation  in  the  day  of  temptation 
in  the  wilderness,' "  etc.  This  is  taken  from  the  ninety- 
fifth  Psalm,  where  there  is  no  verbal  reference  to  the 
Spirit,  and  we  only  know  of  this  as  of  the  other 
Psalms,  that  the  Spirit  spake  by  the  writer.  And 
Stephen,  (Acts  7,)  when  charging  his  accusers  of  hav- 
ing persecuted  the  Prophets,  and  with  not  having  kept 
the  Law  which  they  had  received  by  the  instrumen- 
tality of  Messengers,  says  :  "Ye  stiff-necked  and  uncir- 
cumcised  in  heart  and  ears,  ye  do  always  resist  the 
Holy  Ghost :  as  your  fathers  did,  so  do  ye."  They 
resisted  the  Holy  Ghost  speaking  in  the  Scriptures  by 
the  mouth  of  the  Prophets  and  Messengers  of  Jehovah. 
Again,  Acts  1,  "  Peter  stood  up  in  the  midst  of  the 
disciples,  and  said,  Men  and  brethren,  this  Scripture 
must  needs  have  been  fulfilled,  which  the  Holy  Ghost, 
by  the  mouth  of  David,  spake  before  concerning 
Judas.  .  .  .  For  it  is  written  in  the  Book  of  Psalms, 
'  Let  his  habitation  be  desolate,' "  etc.  See  Psalm  109, 
where,  however,  there  is  no  allusion  to  the  Spirit. 

The  foregoing  is,  I  apprehend,  in  harmony  with  all 
that  we  are  taught  in  Script  are  concerning  the  person, 
offices,  and  agencies  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  His  acts  are 
official  acts.  The  terms  by  which  he  is  distinguished, 


38  THE  NATURE  OF  DIVINE  INSPIRATION. 

are  titular,  official  designations.  The  word  Spirit  pri- 
marily signifies  breath,  air,  and  was  with  obvious  pro- 
priety, appropriated  to  signify  that  essence  and  life 
which  is  invisible  and  omnipresent.  God  is  a  Spirit. 
The  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  are  in  essence 
the  same.  But  in  their  official  relations  and  agencies, 
each  is  distinguished  by  titles  not  common  to  the 
others.  These  titles  indicate  the  peculiar  offices  and 
works  of  the  respective  persons.  The  offices  and  works 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  include  the  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  then  the  use  of  the  words  of  Scripture, 
as  His  exclusive  instrument,  in  convincing  the  world 
of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment;  in  teaching, 
renewing,  and  sanctifying  men ;  in  working  in  them 
repentance,  faith,  and  obedience;  applying  to  them 
the  benefits  of  the  redemption  purchased  by  Christ, 
turning  them  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the 
power  of  Satan  unto  God,  working  in  them  to  will 
and  to  do  the  works  of  righteousness,  sealing  and  pre- 
serving them  to  the  day  of  final  redemption.  It  is  not 
by  new  revelations  that  He  accomplishes  these  results, 
but  by  the  written  Word  of  God,  which  He  Himself 
breathed  into  the  sacred  writers ;  His  own  word,  the 
instrument  of  His  officially  subordinate  agency.  Hence 
the  qualifying  epithets  by  which  He  is  distinguished 
with  reference  to  His  peculiar  works.  As  the  Author 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  of  all  holiness  in  man, 
He  is  denominated  the  Holy  Spirit ;  as  Teacher,  the 
Spirit  of  Truth,  whom  the  world  can  not  receive — the 
Spirit  of  Truth  which  proceedeth  from  the  Father; 
and  in  various  relations,  the  Spirit  of  Holiness,  the 
Spirit  of  Faith,  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  Spirit  of  Christ. 


THE  NATURE   OF  DIVINE   INSPIRATION.  39 

Of  Him  it  is  affirmed,  that  men  are  born  or  the 
Spirit;  that  they  are  chosen  to  salvation  through 
sanctification  of  the  Spirit,  and  belief  of  the  truth ; 
elect  according  to  the  foreknowledge  of  God  the  Father, 
through  sanctification  of  the  Spirit  unto  obedience,  and 
sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ ;  that  they  are 
led,  taught,  guided  by  the  Spirit. 

It  is  thus  apparent  that  the  official  agency  of  the 
Spirit  is  founded  in  the  eternal  covenant,  and  is  co- 
extensive with  the  work  of  redemption,  in  its  details, 
its  efficacious  application,  and  its  final  issues.  From 
the  beginning,  all  revelations  of  the  Father's  will,  as 
they  were  uttered  by  the  voice  or  pen  of  subordinate 
human  messengers,  were  immediately  inspired  into 
their  minds  by  the  Spirit  as  they  uttered  them.  This 
was  His  office  as  much  with  respect  to  every  portion 
as  to  any  portion  of  the  sacred  oracles.  They  are  the 
words  of  God,  conveyed,  breathed  into,  realized  to  the 
consciousness  of  men,  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  If  Enoch  was 
a  holy  man,  the  Spirit  changed  his  heart  and  made 
him  so.  If  he  uttered  predictions  concerning  the  mur- 
murers  and  time-servers  of  the  present  dispensation, 
and  the  yet  future  coming  of  Christ  with  His  holy 
myriads  to  execute  judgment  upon  all  the  ungodly, 
they  were  inspired  into  his  mind  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
as  they  were  into  the  mind  of  Jude  as  he  wrote  them. 
There  is,  I  rest  assured,  no  legitimate,  no  consistent, 
no  Scriptural  view  of  the  subject  but  this.  And  in 
my  judgment  there  are  no  difficulties  incident  to  this 
view,  at  all  comparable  to  the  manifold  and  insur- 
mountable difficulties  which  pervade  and  confound 
the  views  of  those  who  treat  of  an  influence  on  the 


40  THE  NATURE   OF  DIVINE  INSPIKATION. 

faculties  of  men  as  what  they  understand  by  inspira- 
tion, and  hold  to  various  kinds  and  degrees  of  that 
influence. 

There  is,  so  to  speak,  eternal  and  infinite  harmony, 
consistency,  propriety;  order,  system,  proportion; 
reason,  intelligence,  'wisdom;  beauty,  excellency, 
love,  in  all  the  counsels,  acts,  and  ends  of  the  Triune 
God,  all  the  relations  and  agencies  of  the  persons  of 
the  Godhead.  These  qualities  of  Divine  perfection 
are,  by  the  Spirit,  disclosed  to  the  faith  which  is  of 
His  operation,  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  And  they  are 
verbally  disclosed  to  all  as  far  as  that  was  possible,  in 
the  words  given  by  inspiration  of  the  Spirit,  concern- 
ing the  eternal  counsels  and  covenant,  the  offices  and 
relations,  the  administrations  and  acts,  of  the  respec- 
tive persons  of  the  Godhead.  In  what  is  ascribed  to 
them  respectively,  there  is  no  confusion,  no  interfer- 
ence with  each  other,  no  defect  as  to  the  final  issue. 
To  the  Holy  Spirit  pertained  all  that  relates  to  the 
communication  of  the  will  of  God  to  man,  in  the  sa- 
cred writings,  the  written  word  of  God. 

It  is  obvious  to  remark,  that  upon  this  doctrine  of  Di- 
vine Inspiration,  and  this  view  of  the  whole  case,  de- 
pends the  theory,  the  doctrine,  the  ordinance,  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel.  The  ministers 
of  the  Gospel  are  called  and  commissioned  to  preach, 
not  philosophy,  not  their  own  wisdom,  not  any  human 
system,  not  what  the  office  and  commission  of  prophets 
and  apostles  forbid  their  preaching,  but  the  word  of 
God  as  written  by  them  by  inspiration  of  the  Spirit,  as 
the  infallible  standard  of  truth,  and  rule  of  faith  and 
practice.  The  standard,  the  rule,  the  truth  itself  is 


WORDS  OF   GOD   CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION.      41 

extant,  and  unalterably  fixed  in  the  inspired  writings. 
To  go  aside  from  these,  to  add  to  them,  to  detract  from 
them,  is  at  their  peril.  If  they  speak  not  according  to 
this  word,  it  is  because  there  is  no  light  in  them. 
They  are  committed  to  writing  to  be  the  fixed,  per- 
manent, unalterable  standard  to  all  the  subordinate 
messengers  of  the  Spirit  whom  He  makes  overseers, 
teachers,  ministers,  in  His  work  of  calling,  regenerating, 
and  sanctifying  men.  He  who  preaches  the  word 
which  he  inspired,  preaches  that  which  is  His  instru- 
ment in  the  renovation  and  sanctification  of  men.  If 
any  man  preach  any  other  Gospel  than  that  which 
Paul  preached,  not  in  his  own  words,  but  in  the  words 
which  the  Spirit  taught  him,  "  let  him  be  accursed." 
(Gal.  1  :  9.)  "  If  any  man  shall  take  away  from  the 
words  of  the  book  of  this  prophecy,  God  shall  take 
away  his  part  out  of  the  Book  of  Life,"  etc.  (See 
Eevelation  22  :  19.) 


Y.    WERE  THE  VERY  WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  TO 
THE  SACRED  WRITERS  BY  INSPIRATION  ? 

But  the  question  very  naturally  arises,  Is  it  indeed 
the  very  words  of  Scripture  upon  which  so  much  stress 
is  laid  ?  Are  we  bound  to  believe  that  the  words  of 
the  original  texts  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  the  words 
of  God,  as  truly  as  if  He  had  audibly  dictated  them  to 
the  writers  ?  Supposing  even  that  all  the  thoughts — 
not  merely  those  concerning  Original  Kevelations,  but 
all  that  might  be  naturally  known  to  men — were  spe- 
cially selected  and  communicated  to  the  Sacred  Writers, 


42      WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION. 

is  it  necessary  to  suppose  that  all  the  words  also  were 
communicated,  and  that  they  wrote  those  very  words, 
and  had  no  discretion  whatever  in  the  choice  of  words  ? 
Human  wisdom  is  gravelled  and  stumbled  at  this  :  as 
though  it  were  unworthy  of  the  Creator  and  Lawgiver 
of  men,  the  Author  of  language,  and  Maker  of  man's 
mouth,  or  impossible  to  Him,  to  cause  His  own  words 
to  be  written  as  the  fixed  and  permanent  expression  of 
His  thoughts,  and  the  infallible  rule  of  human  faith 
and  life.  Good  men,  even  the  best  of  men,  and  the 
best  of  critics  and  commentators,  while  with  respect  to 
every  particular  passage  of  Scripture,  they  believe  in 
their  hearts  that  it  is  the  "Word  of  God,  as  really  as 
any  other  passage,  and  quote,  criticise,  and  comment 
on  it  as  such,  nevertheless  are  reserved,  hesitating, 
non-committal,  as  to  any  explicit  declaration  concern- 
ing the  whole. 

Take  for  example  the  critical  work  of  Dr.  Stier,  en- 
titled "  The  Words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  of  which  it  is 
the  object  "  to  unfold  the  meaning  and  harmony  of  all 
the  recorded  words  which  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  Word 
made  flesh."  The  very  definition  of  what  he  under- 
took to  do,  and  every  sentence  of  his  elaborate,  and 
in  point  of  evangelical  excellence,  unequalled  exege- 
sis, implies  that  he  most  firmly  believed  that  the  re- 
corded words  were  the  very  words  of  Christ.  He  as- 
sumed that,  he  believed  it,  he,  time  and  again,  asserts 
it :  without  that,  his  work  had  no  basis,  his  labor  no 
object,  his  conclusions  no  authority.  The  question 
met  him  at  the  outset,  "  Have  we  these  words  just  as 
He  spoke  them  ?"  "  This,"  he  answers,  "  is  the  ques- 
tion of  modern  criticism,  which  refuses  to  take  for 


WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION.      43 

granted  what  should,  however,  be  taken  for  granted 
by  all  who  believe  in  a  Kevelation  by  the  Son  of  God ; 
namely,  that  His  words  can  not  have  fallen  to  the 
ground,  can  not  have  dropped  and  been  lost  through 
the  sieve  of  erring  human  composition.  Yes,  we  pos- 
sess that  ivliich  He  spake  !  Not  indeed  in  the  letter  of 
the  verba  ipsissima,  but  through  the  mediating  witness 
of  the  Evangelists,  elevated  in  the  Spirit.  Yet  are 
they  truly  and  essentially  the  ipsissima,  as  His  teaching 
for  the  world  and  the  Church."  This  answer  is  good 
for  the  heart,  but  not  sufficient,  or  in  point,  for  the 
understanding.  It  leaves  that  unexplained  to  which 
the  question  relates ;  and  advances  an  inference  from 
premises,  which,  not  being  self-evident,  are  to  be  taken 
for  granted.  Then  as  to  the  very  words,  there  is  an 
indefiniteness,  an  uncertainty,  which  gives  scope  and 
point  to  the  question.  But  if  they  are  not  His  words 
verbatim  et  literatim,  why  should  the  words  themselves 
be  criticised  and  expounded  as  His  ?  If  they  are  not 
in  that  sense  His  words,  how  can  a  critical  exegesis  of 
them  show  that  what  they  signify  is  identical  with  what 
was  signified  by  the  words  which  he  actually  uttered  ? 
If  they  are  not  His  words  in  that  literal  sense,  but  yet 
contain  His  teaching  for  the  world  and  the  Church, 
why  not  pass  by  the  words  and  criticise  the  teaching 
only  ?  But  says  the  author,  u  His  words  can  not  have 
fallen  to  the  ground,  can  not  have  dropped  and  been 
lost  through  the  sieve  of  erring  human  composition ;" 
as  if  the  words  recorded  were  the  very  words  that  had 
been  vocally  uttered ;  and  as  if  the  writers,  in  record- 
ing them,  had  been  supernaturally  withheld  from  los- 
ing them,  and  preserved  from  error  in  writing.  But 


44      WOKDS  OF  GOD   CONVEYED   BY  INSPIKATION. 

if  the  Evangelists  were  compositors,  or  Lad  any  discre- 
tion, or  any  thing  whatever  to  do  with  selecting  out 
of  all  that  was  spoken  by  Christ,  what  they  should 
respectively  write,  how  did  it  happen  that  one  wrote 
so  much  more  than  others  of  them,  and  that  altogether 
they  recorded  so  small  a  portion  of  the  words  uttered 
by  Him  in  the  hearing  of  the  disciples  ?  How  came 
they  actually  to  drop,  omit,  leave  unrecorded  an  inde- 
finitely large  proportion  of  all  that  the  Saviour  did  and 
said  ?  (See  John  20  :  30 ;  21  :  25.)  Either  they  are 
His  words  in  the  same  sense  as  all  the  words  of  Scrip- 
ture are  the  words  of  God,  as  having  been  audibly 
uttered  or  verbally  inspired  by  Him,  or  they  are  merely 
the  words  of  the  Evangelist  compositors,  and  should 
be  expounded  as  such.  The  author's  faith  is  right ; 
but  his  explanation  for  the  guidance  of  others  to  the 
same  result,  falters  and  fails.  Practically  and  experi- 
mentally, by  way  of  accounting  for  his  "  rigid  adher- 
ence to  the  written  word,"  he  says:  "I  read  the 
canonical  text  of  the  Bible,  as  written  through  the 
Holy  Ghost;  but  I  so  read  it,  not  because  I  have 
framed  for  myself  any  inspiration  dogma,  ....  but 
because  this  word  approves  itself  with  ever-increasing 
force  as  inspired  to  my  reason,  which,  though  not  in- 
deed sound,  is  through  the  virtue  of  that  word  daily 
recovering  soundness.  It  is  because  this  living  Word 
in  a  thousand  ways  has  directed,  and  is  ever  directing, 
my  inner  being,  with  all  its  intelligence,  thought,  and 
will,  that  I  have  subjected  to  it  the  freedom  of  my 
whole  existence."  But  he  adds  an  explanation  which 
seems  substantially  to  express,  and  really  to  involve, 
what  I  am  endeavoring  to  inculcate  respecting  the 


WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION.      45 

office-work  of  the  Spirit  in  conveying  to  the  Sacred 
writers  the  very  words  which  they  wrote :  "  The 
great  and  fundamental  deficiency  of  nearly  all  learned 
exegesis,  with  which  mine  must  forever  differ,  is  its 
misapprehension  of  the  depth  and  fullness  of  meaning 
which,  in  accordance  with  its  higher  nature,  necessari- 
ly belongs  to  every  word  of  the  Spirit.  Though  be- 
lieved to  be  the  word  of  God,  it  is  treated  superficially 
and  on  principles  of  partial  and  one-sided  deduction, 
just  as  if  it  were  the  word  of  man.  In  the  endeavor  to 
understand  it,  that  depth  is  not  explored  where,  from 
the  one  root  of  the  sensus  simplex,  the  richest  fullness  of 
references  spring  up  and  ramify  in  such  a  manner, 
that  what  upon  the  ground  and  territory  of  its  imme- 
diate historical  connection,  presents  one  definitely  ap- 
prehended truth  as  the  kernel  of  its  meaning,  does 
nevertheless  expand  itself  into  an  inexhaustible  variety 
of  senses  for  the  teaching  of  the  world  in  all  ages,  and 
especially  in  the  Church,  where  the  Holy  Spirit  Him- 
self continues  to  unfold  His  germinal  word,  even  to  the 
end  of  the  days.  While  this  applies  to  every  word  of 
the  Spirit  in  its  several  measure,  to  the  words  of  the  Word, 
it  applies  without  measure,  to  an  extent  which  eternity 
only  will  disclose!  ....  The  preparatory  prophetic 
word  finds  its  end  and  goal  in  the  word  of  Christ :  the 
apostolical  word  rests  upon  Him  as  its  foundation,  is 

in  Him  already  in  its  rudiments  performed As 

to  those  who  believe  in  the  Lord,  and  yet  through  a 
pernicious  pseudo-science,  either  can  not  or  will  not 
bow  to  that  miracle  of  the  Holy  Ghost — the  sure  trans- 
mission of  His  life  and  words  in  the  Gospels,  which  are 
the  central  word  in  the  whole  invisible  Scripture,  may 


46      WORDS   OF   GOD   CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION. 

the  Spirit  of  Truth  bear  more  and  more  convincingly 
His  own  witness  to  His  own  testimony,  which  tolerates 
no  correction  of  man."  (Stier.  Preface,  vol.  i.,  Lon- 
don Ed.)  Again  in  his  critical  comments :  "  Which, 
then,  out  of  the  multitude  of  His  words,  should  be 
committed  to  record  for  the  world  and  the  Church  ? 
....  The  selection  and  arrangement  were  not  left 
with  man,  but  were  the  prerogative  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
concerning  whom  the  Lord's  promise  was,  *  He  shall 
glorify  Me,  for  He  shall  take  of  Mine,  and  show 
it  unto  you.'  "...."  We  find  in  the  Gospels  a  pre- 
liminary series  of  first  words,  which  the  Spirit  has 
selected  as  the  most  critical  in  their  occurrence,  and 

most  distinctive  in  their  expression The  Lord 

did  actually  thus  speak  them,  but  His  Spirit  alone 
could  with  perfect  fidelity  reproduce  them  in  the 
Scripture,  and  hand  them  over  to  the  Church." 

"  The  Evangelists,  according  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  were  under  the  necessity  of  distributing 
in  portions  what  was  allotted  to  them  to  record.  .  .  . 
How  familiarly  the  Lord's  thought  and  language 
attach  themselves  to  those  Old  Testament  typical  expres- 
sions in  which  the  spirit  had  already  prophetically 
exhibited  all  the  germs  of  the  New  Testament  com- 
munication. .  .  .  We  have  through  the  intervention 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  entire  actual  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  which  we  may  hear  and  understand  even  as  it 
was  spoken  by  the  Lord  Himself,  .  .  .  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  Himself,  who  spake  by  the  prophets, 
expounds  and  opens  to  us  by  the  mouth  of  Jesus 
and  His  apostles,  His  own  fore- written  word;  and 
bears  witness  to  it  as  now  first  fulfilled,  and  now  first 


WORDS   OF   GOD   CONVEYED   BY  INSPIRATION.      47 

accessible  in  its  full  and  consummate  meaning,  to  our 
understanding.  We  can  not  penetrate  too  deeply  into 
the  words  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  specially  can  not  we 
hold  too  firmly  by  the  principle,  that  the  quotations 
and  expositions  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  New, 
give  to  us  the  right  key  for  their  interpretation." 

These  are  samples  of  his  spontaneous  deliverances, 
from  time  to  time,  in  the  progress  of  his  exegesis  of 
the  very  words  of  Christ  as  reproduced  in  the  writings 
of  the  Evangelists.  Yet,  turning  again  to  his  Preface, 
we  find  him  reserved  as  to  his  doctrinal  or  theoretical 
view  of  inspiration,  and  impatient  at  the  abuse  heaped 
upon  him  by  the  non-verbalists  and  deniers  of  any 
real  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures.  "  I  hold  fast,"  he 
says,  "  the  rigid  inspiration  of  the  Word  in  which  we 
find  and  possess  the  Christ,  yet  not  in  the  mechanical 
fashion  of  that  orthodoxy  which  seems  sometimes  to 
gaze  in  blank  amazement  at  Him  who  was  born  of 
woman,  as  if  He  had  fallen  from  heaven  in  his  swad- 
dling-clothes ;  this  I  must  finally  and  most  earnestly 
beg  every  one  to  observe,  on  account  of  the  persevering 
injustice  with  which  I  have  been  treated  on  this  particular ." 
To  which  he  adds  in  a  note  to  his  second  edition : 
"  This  unjust  treatment  still  continues — eight  years  after 
this  was  first  written.  Probably  I  may  be  able  to  ex- 
hibit, after  a  while,  more  clearly,  in  what  way  my  rigid 
and  yet  not  mechanical  view  of  Inspiration  is  on  either 
hand  distinguished  from  the  old  and  the  new  doctrine." 

But  have  we  indeed,  as  recorded  in  the  -Gospels,  the 
very  words  of  Christ  ?  The  difficulties  which  critics 
and  expositors  find  in  this  question  are  not  resolved 
by  any  of  their  theories  of  explanation.  What  relates 


48      WORDS  OF  GOD   CONVEYED   BY  INSPIRATION. 

to  the  difference  of  expression  in  the  details  of  the 
same  narratives  by  different  Evangelists,  is  now  as  far 
from  being  satisfactorily  accounted  for,  as  at  any  for- 
mer period.  Yet  the  Gospels  are  the  word  of  God. 
The  original  text  claims  to  give  the  words  of  Christ. 
The  different  expressions  in  parallel  passages  do  not 
indeed  involve  any  contradictions.  But  in  recording 
the  same  fact,  one  Evangelist  employs  more  words 
than  another,  and  to  some  extent  different  words; 
each,  however,  when  relating  what  was  said  by  Christ, 
professing  to  give  his  words.  To  impute  this  to  differ- 
ent degrees  of  accuracy  in  the  memories  of  the  differ- 
ent writers,  to  their  ignorance,  their  carelessness,  or 
any  other  imperfection  in  them,  can  not  be  satisfactory 
to  any  one ;  even  with  respect  to  what  two  of  them 
personally  heard  from  the  lips  of  Christ,  and  saw  of 
His  acts ;  and  much  less  of  the  other  two,  who  were 
not  original  witnesses  of  His  words  or  works.  What 
was  their  authority  for  recording  as  the  words  of 
Christ,  different  words  from  those  relating  to  the  same 
fact,  which  the  other  writers  record  as  having  been 
heard  by  them?  Be  it  that  the  different  words  in 
each  instance  are  of  the  same  significance,  how  came 
they  to  employ  different  words  as  the  words  of  Christ 
in  any  instance  ?  The  fact  that  they  did  this,  stands 
out  conspicuously  on  the  record,  and  must  in  some 
way  be  consistent  with  the  Divine  authority  and  in- 
fallibility of  the  original  text.  To  say  that  the  Evan- 
gelists wrote  under  a  Divine  influence  assisting  them 
in  the  exercise  of  their  faculties — "  an  influence  on 
their  understandings,  imaginations,  memories,  and 
other  mental  powers" — an  influence  of  "superintend- 


WORDS  OF   GOD   CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION.      49 

ence,  elevation,  direction,  guidance,  suggestion,"  can 
in  no  degree  serve  to  obviate  this  difficulty ;  but  on 
the  contrary,  aggravates  it.  To  suppose  one  writer  to 
be  divinely  guided  to  use  certain  words  in  a  particular 
sentence  vocally  uttered  by  Christ,  and  another  writer 
to  be  guided  to  use  other  words  in  his  record  of  the 
same  sentence,  under  color  of  their  having  been  the 
words  which  He  actually  uttered,  must  appear  to  every 
one  to  be  contradictory  and  impossible. 

The  attempts  to  account  for  the  fact  in  question,  that 
have  fallen  in  my  way,  whether  by  rationalists,  who 
suppose  the  writers  not  to  have  been  under  any  super- 
natural influence  whatever,  and  to  have  been  not 
learned  but  ignorant  men ;  or  by  those  who  suppose 
them  to  have  been  assisted  by  a  supernatural  influence 
on  their  faculties,  appear  to  me  in  no  respect  to  abate, 
but  greatly  to  enhance  this  difficulty.  That  which  the 
latter  class  allege  as  influence,  and  call  inspiration,  is 
not  inspiration  in  the  sense  of  Scripture ;  it  is  assist- 
ance rendered  to  man  in  the  exercise  of  his  natural 
faculties ;  Divine  assistance  alleged  to  account  for  what 
on  the  face  of  it,  appears  plainly  inconsistent  and 
contradictory. 

To  account  for  this  seeming  difficulty,  we  must  recur 
to  the  prophetic  office  of  Christ ;  and  to  His  exercise 
of  that  office  through  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
sent  by  Him  to  inspire  His  words  into  the  minds  of 
the  sacred  writers,  as  He  Himself  was  sent  by  the 
Father  to  speak  His  words.  That  in  this  relation  it 
was  the  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  teach,  renew  the 
conscious  memory  of,  convey  by  inspiration  to,  the 
Prophets,  Evangelists,  and  Apostolic  Messengers  of 
3 


50      WOfiDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED   BY  INSPIRATION. 

Christ,  His  words,  to  be  uttered  vocally  or  in  writing, 
by  them,  appears  to  me  to  be  as  clearly  evident  from 
Scripture,  as  that  He  had  officially  any  relation  what- 
ever to  the  sacred  writings,  or  to  the  authoritative  and 
infallible  utterances  of  prophets  and  apostles.  There- 
fore it  is,  that  the  canonical  Scriptures,  all  that  the  ap- 
pointed Messengers  wrote  officially,  is,  in  the  nature 
of  the  case,  and  by  the  declarations  of  the  Scriptures 
themselves,  the  Word  of  God.  This  view  of  the  mat- 
ter is  pointedly  confirmed  by  a  circumstance,  which 
those  who  mistake  influence  for  inspiration,  seem  wholly 
to  overlook,  and  which  is  in  the  last  degree  incompati- 
ble with  their  doctrine.  For  how  could  an  influence 
on  their  memories  enabling  them  to  recall  the  words 
which  they  heard  from  the  lips  of  Christ,  supply  them 
with  the  very  words  which  they  wrote  in  another  and 
wholly  different  language  ?  It  is  conceded  by  all,  that 
the  vocal  utterances  of  Christ,  in  his  personal  and  pub- 
lic addresses,  were  not  in  Greek,  but  in  Aramaic,  a 
form  or  dialect  of  the  Hebrew  language,  then  com- 
mon to  the  Jews  of  Palestine.  Matthew  and  John 
therefore  heard  from  His  lips,  not  the  Greek  words 
which  they  wrote,  but  Hebrew  words,  which  were  ver- 
nacular to  them.  Mark  and  Luke  did  not  even  hear 
those  words  themselves ;  and  if  those  words  were  re- 
ported to  them  by  those  who  heard  them,  still  they 
are  not  the  Greek  words  which  they  wrote.  The  re- 
calling to  memory,  however  accurately,  the  very  words 
which  Christ  had  spoken,  would  not  be  recalling  the 
Greek  words  which  they  wrote.  How  then  did  these 
unlearned  fishermen  become  possessed  of  Greek  words 
which  exactly  and  infallibly  expressed  the  same 


WORDS  OF  GOD   CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION.      51 

thoughts  which  Christ  had  vocally  expressed  only  in 
Hebrew  words  ?  And  how  are  the  Greek  words  which 
they  actually  wrote,  His  words  ? 

These  questions  can  not  be  answered  on  any  theory 
of  influence  on  their  faculties.  But  they  involve 
nothing  mysterious  or  paradoxical,  when  it  is  consid- 
ered that  Christ  executed  His  prophetic  office  in  part 
through  that  official  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by 
which  He  gave  to  the  sacred  penmen,  word  for  word, 
what  He  received  from  Christ  for  that  purpose.  "The 
Holy  Ghost  whom  I  will  send,  shall  receive  of  mine, 
and  shall  show  it  unto  you."  Though  He  had  spoken 
to  the  Jews  in  their  vernacular  tongue,  which  the  com- 
mon people  understood,  He  determined  to  have  His 
Gospel  written  and  published,  at  a  later  period,  in  the 
copious,  polished,  and  established  language  both  of 
educated  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent the  most  popular  language  in  the  cities  and  prov- 
inces of  the  Eoman  Empire.  It  was  intended  not  for 
the  Jews  except  temporarily  and  as  orally  delivered ; 
but  for  the  nations.  The  Aramaic,  as  a  vernacular,  was 
soon  to  be  superseded,  as  the  abrogation  of  the  Leviti- 
cal  institutions,  the  destruction  of  the  Temple,  and  the 
conquest  and  dispersion  of  the  Jewish  people,  were 
soon  to  happen.  Admitting  then  that  His  infallible 
words  were  to  be  given  to  the  nations  for  all  future 
time,  and  that  the  written  words  of  the  Greek  text  are 
His  words,  as  truly  as  the  Hebrew  were  His  by  which 
He  had  orally  expressed  the  very  same  thoughts, 
facts,  doctrines,  promises,  threatenings,  precepts,  pre- 
dictions, is  there  any  alternative  to  the  conclusion,  or 
any  room  for  hesitation  in  saying  that  He  gave  those 


52      WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION. 

words  to  the  Spirit  as  His  Messenger,  sent  to  convey 
them  by  His  act  of  inspiration  to  those  selected  and 
appointed  to  write  them  ?  Is  it  not  apparent  that  this 
was  what  He  was  promised,  commissioned  and  sent  to 
do  ? — to  teach  the  subordinate  messengers  what  they 
should  utter  and  write  in  the  name  and  as  the  words 
of  Christ ;  or,  more  briefly,  Himself  to  utter  by  their 
mouths  and  pens,  the  words  received  by  Him  as  the 
immediate  Messenger  of  Christ,  acting  in  His  place 
after  His  personal  withdrawment  from  the  scene  in 
which  He  directly  exercised  His  office  as  the  Messen- 
ger of  the  Father. 

On  this  view  it  is  obvious  and  consistent  to  suppose, 
that  just  those  thoughts  and  words  were  by  the  Spirit 
conveyed  to  the  respective  Evangelists  which  they 
were  respectively  to  utter ;  to  one  concise,  to  another 
more  extended  narratives  of  the  same  events;  to 
one  facts,  doctrines,  predictions,  which  were  wholly 
withheld  from  the  others.  Undoubtedly  the  Divine 
Wisdom  must  have  determined  these  peculiarities. 
And  now  admitting  the  Greek  words  to  have  been  the 
words  of  Christ  Himself,  by  the  Spirit  as  His  Messen- 
ger, so  conveyed  to  the  three  most  unlearned,  and  the 
one  least  unlearned  of  the  four  Evangelists,  it  is  obvi- 
ous to  consider  them  unequally  qualified  by  their 
knowledge  of  Greek,  to  receive  and  write  the  same 
words  to  express  the  same  thoughts  in  every  instance. 
That  in  writing  they  retained  the  free  and  intelligent 
exercise  of  their  faculties,  no  one  doubts.  But  to  be 
consistent  with  that,  the  Omniscient  llevealer  must 
have  caused  such  words,  in  every  instance,  to  be  con- 
veyed to  them  as  they  were  qualified  to  receive  and 


WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION.      53 

understand;  and  this  accounts,  on  a  solid  and  suffi- 
cient footing,  for  the  fact  that  different  words  are  some- 
times employed  by  the  different  writers  to  express  the 
same  thought  in  the  same  connection.  The  promise 
that  the  Spirit  "  should  bring  all  things  to  their  remem- 
brance," can  not  mean  that  He  should  bring  the 
Hebrew,  Syro-Chaldaic,  or  Aramaic  words  of  Christ 
to  their  remembrance  in  order  to  their  writing  them 
verbatim  as  they  heard  them ;  for  they  did  not  write 
those  words.  It  may  mean  that  He  should  bring  dis- 
tinctly to  their  remembrance  the  things,  facts,  events, 
to  which  those  words  related,  so  that  they  might  dis- 
cern the  appropriateness  of  the  Greek  words  which 
they  received  and  wrote.  "  When  the  Comforter" — 
Teacher,  Monitor — "  is  come  whom  I  will  send  unto 
you  from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  which 
proceedeth  from  the  Father,  He  shall  testify  of  me.  .  . 
When  He,  the  Spirit  of  Truth  is  come,  He  will  guide 
you  into  all  truth;"  that  is,  by  speaking^  "for  He 
shall  not  speak  of  Himself;  but  whatsoever  He  shall 
hear  that  shall  He  speak;  and  He  will  show  you 
things  to  come.  He  shall  glorify  me ;  for  He  shall 
receive  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it  unto  you.  All 
things  that  the  Father  hath  are  mine ;  therefore  said  I 
that  He  shall  take  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it  unto 
you.  He  shall  teach  you  all  things,  whatsoever  I  have 
said  unto  you."  Now  in  this  promise  of  the  official 
agency  of  the  Spirit,  the  subject  is  that  of  teaching, 
conveying  intelligence  in  words  in  a  manner  equiva- 
1  rit  to,  or  identical  with,  speaking — speaking  what,  as  a 
Messenger,  He  heard — taking  the  words  of  Christ,  and 
showing,  imparting  them  to  the  apostles.  If  this  was 


54      WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION. 

not  specifically  His  office  in  this  relation,  and  in  dis- 
tinction from  His  official  agency  in  the  renovation  and 
sanctification  of  men ;  and  if  the  words  of  Christ  were 
not  so  given  to  Him,  and  given  by  His  inspiring 
agency  to  the  apostles,  let  those  who  can,  tell  us  how 
the  sacred  penmen  became  possessed  of  what  they 
wrote,  and  how  what  they  wrote  is  the  word  of  God  ? 
But  if  such  was  the  office  of  the  Spirit  in  this  relation, 
if,  in  the  absence  of  Christ,  the  Spirit  received  what  He 
intended  should  be  written,  and  communicated  it  to 
those  appointed  to  write  his  words — as  when  called  be- 
fore magistrates,  He  taught,  imparted  to,  the  apostles 
what  they  should  say,  at  the  moment  of  their  utter- 
ance— then  what  they  wrote  is  the  infallible  word  of 
God,  conveyed  to  mankind  by  Christ  in  the  exercise 
of  his  prophetic  office  through  the  official  agency  of 
the  Spirit  sent  by  Him,  and  the  subordinate  agency  of 
those  human  messengers  whom  He  appointed  to  com- 
mit His  words  to  writing. 

This  view,  I  venture  to  affirm,  accords  with  all  that 
is  taught  us  on  the  subject  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  ac- 
cording to  their  verbal  and  apparent  meaning,  and  ac- 
cording to  all  those  researches  and  expositions  of 
modern  criticism,  which  treat  them  as  of  Divine  au- 
thority. The  Logos  from  the  beginning,  the  Messenger 
Jehovah  in  the  early,  the  Incarnate  Word  in  the 
present  dispensation,  is  the  Eevealer  of  God  to  the 
world,  in  works  and  word ;  the  prime  official  agent  of 
all  intelligible  revelations,  communications,  and  in- 
structions. His  prophetic  offers  comprehended  and 
provided  for  all  the  verbal  communications  ever  made 
to  the  human  race.  He  is,  in  this  relation,  the  Light 


WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION.      55 

of  the  World.  He  fulfilled  His  prophetic  office  chiefly, 
under  the  ancient  dispensation,  by  His  own  direct 
agency,  till  he  appointed  Prophets  to  be  His  messen- 
gers ;  and  under  the  present  dispensation,  till  He  com- 
missioned Apostles  to  be  His  messengers.  The  Spirit 
conveyed  I^s  word  to  prophets  and  apostles,  and 
through  their  subordinate  agency  to  the  world.  He 
maintained  His  office  and  prerogative  as  Eevealer  of 
the  will  of  God,  and  teacher  of  mankind,  as  part  of  the 
work  delegated  to  Him  in  virtue  of  the  eternal  cove- 
nant. The  Holy  Scriptures  so  conveyed  are  therefore 
the  word  of  God. 

On  no  other  view  but  this  can  either  the  fact  that  in 
parallel  passages  one  Evangelist  uses,  in  particular  in 
stances,  different  words  from  another,  nor  the  far  more 
striking  fact,  that,  in  general,  when  narrating  the  same 
occurrence,  they  use  precisely  the  same  words,  be  satis- 
factorily accounted  for.  This  coincidence  is  most  re- 
markable in  the  parallel  passages  of  Matthew  and 
Luke,  of  whom  one  had  been  a  disciple  and  hearer  of 
Christ,  which  the  other  had  not.  Neither  of  them 
refers  to  what  the  other  had  written,  nor  is  there  any 
historical  evidence  or  probability  that  the  second  of  the 
two  had  seen  the  Gospel  of  the  first.  Their  identity 
of  expression  is  the  more  remarkable,  when  we  con- 
sider that  Matthew  was  a  Jew ;  Luke  a  convert  from 
heathenism  :  that  Matthew  wrote  his  Gospel  at  Jerusa- 
lem ;  Luke  his  about  the  same  time,  most  probably,  at 
Eome  :  that  Matthew  had  it  specially  in  view  to  show 
that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah  foretold  by  the  prophets, 
and  to  instruct  Jewish  converts;  while  Luke  had 
special  reference  to  converts  from  heathenism :  and, 


56      WORDS-  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION. 

lastly,  that  Luke  was,  from  his  education  and  experi- 
ence, a  far  more  accomplishedv  writer  of  Greek  than 
Matthew.  The  supposition  advanced  by  some  writers, 
that  they  both  copied  from  shorter  memoirs,  is  too 
derogatory  to  the  whole  subject  to  be  worthy  of  a 
moment's  consideration.  Every  thing  relating  to  the 
antecedents,  the  personal  character,  and  the  qualifica- 
tions, as  well  as  the  verbal  coincidences  of  these 
writers,  demands  our  belief  that  the  words  which  they 
wrote  were  inspired  into  their  minds  at  the  time  of 
their  writing. 

Again,  let  it  be  observed,  that  if  the  Gospel  in  Hebrew, 
to  which  Jerome  and  others  refer  as  extant,  was  writ- 
ten by  Matthew,  as  they  suppose,  for  the  special  use 
of  believing  Jews,  it  is,  according  to  the. most  compe- 
tent and  reliable  writers  upon  the  subject,  entirely  cer- 
tain, from  internal  evidence,  that  the  Greek  Gospel  of 
Matthew  was  not  a  translation  from  the  Hebrew  text, 
but  an  independent  and  original  work.  And  accord- 
ingly, supposing  the  Hebrew  Gospel  to  have  been 
used  to  a  limited  extent,  and  to  have  served  a  tempo- 
rary purpose,  the  Greek  Gospel  of  Matthew  alone 
obtained  currency  in  the  Western  churches,  it  being 
settled  by  their  own  testimony  that  the  earliest  Fathers 
did  not  use,  or  even  possess,  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  in 
any  other  than  the  Greek  form,  in  which  we  now  pos- 
sess it.  His  Gospel,  therefore,  as  we  have  it,  is  not  a 
record  of  the  very  words  which  he  heard  from  the  lips 
of  Christ ;  but  is  a  record  of  the  words  of  Christ  in 
Greek,  conveyed  to  him  by  the  Spirit  as  he  wrote 
them.  It  is  preposterous,  considering  the  infinite 
sacredness  and  importance  of  the  subject,  to  suppose 


WORDS  OF   GOD   CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION.      57 

with  Olshausen,  "  That  Matthew  himself,  when  he  had 
composed  the  Hebrew  Gospel,  executed  likewise  a  free 
translation,  or  new  composition  of  it  in  the  Greek  lan- 
guage. It  makes  no  essential  difference,"  he  adds, 
"  if  we  suppose  that  a  friend  of  Matthew  wrote  tht 
Greek  work  under  his  direction  and  authority  ;  but 
Matthew's  authority  must  necessarily  be  supposed  to 
have  been  the  means  of  the  diffusion  of  the  Gospel, 
as  otherwise  it  is  inexplicable  that  there  does  not  ap- 
pear the  faintest  trace  of  any  opposition  to  it."  On 
this,  I  need  only  remark:  1.  That  on  this  suppo- 
sition both  the  verbal  discrepancies  and  coincidences 
between  Matthew  and  the  other  Evangelists  would  be 
unaccountable  and  incredible  in  the  very  last  degree. 
2.  That  the  Hebrew  Gospel,  as  the  author  last  quoted 
expressly  says,  "  differed  from  our  Gresk  Gospel  of 
Matthew,  for  it  contained  many  things  wanting  in  our 
Gospel."  How  then  could  the  Greek  be  palmed  off 
upon  Matthew's,  or  upon  any  one's,  authority  as  an 
honest,  not  to  say  an  authoritative  and  infallible  transla- 
tion of  the  Hebrew  ?  Suppose  Matthew  to  have  writ- 
ten the  Hebrew  Gospel,  in  his  official  character,  and 
put  it  in  circulation  as  of  Divine  authority.  "Would 
he  have  made  for  permanent  and  universal  circulation 
a  partial  translation  to  supersede  the  original  of  his 
own  Gospel,  omitting  many  things,  equally  parts  of  his 
Gospel  with  the  rest  ?  3.  It  is  a  desperate  supposition, 
that  Matthew,  from  lack  of  sufficient  knowledge  of  the 
Greek  tongue,  for  that  is  the  implied  and  only  con- 
ceivable reason,  procured  a  friend  to  translate  and 
garble  his  Gospel,  under  his  own  direction  and  au- 
thority. For  how  could  he  direct  or  authorize  the  use 


58      WORDS  OF   GOD   CONVEYED   BY  INSPIRATION. 

of  words  which  he  did  not  understand  ?  If  such  was 
his  predicament,  it  is  inevitable  that  the  Greek  words 
were  not  furnished  by  a  friendly  scholar  in  the  capa- 
city of  translator  ;  but  were  given  to  him  by  Inspira- 
tion of  God,  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  he  wrote  them. 

On  the  supposition  that  Christ  Himself  appointed 
the  times,  the  writers,  the  things  to  be  written,  and  all 
the  particulars  and  circumstances  relating  to  the  writ- 
ing and  publication  of  the  different  Gospels,  the  whole 
matter  is  intelligible  and  plain ;  and  this  supposition 
is  abundantly  more  than  authorized,  by  the  fact  that 
the  Gospels  as  written  are  of  Divine  authority  and  in- 
fallibility, and  by  the  acknowledged  character  and  office 
of  Christ,  as  the  Kevealer  of  God,  the  Divine  Prophet, 
Teacher,  Kedeemer,  and  Saviour  of  men.  But  every 
attempt  of  learned  critics  and  commentators  to  account 
for  the  phenomena,  by  assigning  mere  private,  pruden- 
tial, personal  reasons,  why  the  respective  Evangelists 
wrote  as  they  did  in  respect  to  matter  and  manner, 
what  kind  of  assistance  Mark  had  from  Peter,  and 
Luke  from  Paul,  and  under  what  influence  and  sanc- 
tion the  Gospels  of  these  two  Evangelists  obtained 
public  confidence  and  established  currency,  does  but 
lower  the  subject  down  to  the  level  of  mere  human 
wisdom.  If  the  words  which  Mark  wrote  were  not 
directly  inspired  into  his  mind  as  he  wrote  them  ;  if 
he  in  his  private  capacity,  not  having  himself  witnessed 
the  things  which  he  relates,  sat  down  to  write  without 
a  full  and  perfect  knowledge  of  what  he  should  say, 
of  what  avail  can  it  be  for  the  critics  to  inform  us  that, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Fathers,  or  some  of  them,  he  was 
at  some  period  an  associate  of  Peter,  and  therefore 


WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION.      59 

probably  wrote  his  Gospel  under  the  direction  of  that 
Apostle  ;  and  therefore,  that  his  Gospel  may  reasona- 
bly be  considered  as  of  Apostolic  authority  ?  May  it 
not  be  Divine,  the  very  word  of  God,  without  having 
been  written  under  the  direction  of  an  Apostle  ?  If 
Peter  dictated  to  Mark  what  he  should  write,  as  Jere- 
miah did  to  Baruch,  and  as  Paul  did  to  Tertius,  why 
was  not  that  fact  stated,  and  the  writing  called  the 
Gospel  of  Peter  ?  If  Mark  wrote  unofficially  as  a  pri- 
vate man,  and  the  words  which  he  wrote  were  inspired 
into  the  mind  of  Peter,  why  did  not  Peter  write  them  ? 
He  wrote  Epistles,  why  should  he  not  write  a  Gospel  ? 
He  was  a  Disciple  of  Christ,  and  heard  His  words,  and 
he  was  an  Apostle ;  Mark  was  neither. 

The  same  course  of  remark  and  interrogation  is 
obvious  in  respect  to  Luke  ;  who,  not  being  an  apostle, 
and  not  having  been  a  disciple,  the  critics,  for  similar 
reasons,  imagine  to  have  written  his  Gospel  under  the 
direction  of  Paul.  I  humbly  conceive  that  all  such 
theories  and  conceits  in  respect  to  the  origin  of  the 
Gospels,  proceed  upon  the  assumption  that  mere 
human  agency,  human  wisdom  and  discretion,  human 
policy  and  skill,  were  concerned  in  the  production  of 
those  Divine  records  of  the  very  words  of  the  Divine 
official  Revealer  and  Messenger  of  the  Father,  Prophet 
and  Teacher  of  the  world.  The  very  same  men  who 
can  repose  on  the  hypothesis  that  Mark  owed  what  he 
wrote  to  the  assistance  of  Peter  as  an  Apostle,  can,  on 
another  hypothesis,  entertain  doubts  of  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  second  Epistle  of  Peter  himself,  which  he 
begins  by  declaring  himself  "  a  servant  and  an  Apostle 
of  Jesus  Christ."  This  passes  for  learning.  The  Gos- 


60      WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION. 

pel  of  Mark  written  under  the  direction  of  Peter,  the 
Gospel  of  Luke  written  under  the  direction  of  Paul — 
and  yet  both  of  them  the  word  of  God  —  the  very 
words  of  Christ.  This  passes  for  learning  with  men 
who  shrink  from  the  idea  of  verbal  inspiration. 

The  first  three  Gospels  consist  mainly  of  the  verbal 
discourses  of  Christ,  narratives  of  His  miraculous  cures, 
His  journeys,  and  the  like.  The  Gospel  of  John  has, 
in  its  details,  little  in  common  with  the  other  three. 
It  omits  for  the  most  part  what  they  had  particularly 
described,  and  consists  chiefly  of  original  doctrinal 
statements  and  discussions.  Now  if  what  Matthew 
wrote  was  just  what  he  remembered  of  the  acts  and 
discourses  of  the  Saviour,  and  if  his  remembering  it 
was  the  reason  why  he  wrote  his  Gospel,  how  is  it  to 
be  accounted  for  that  he  remembered  and  wrote  so 
little  of  all  that  is  recorded  by  John?  And  how 
should  it  happen  that  John,  when  near  an  hundred 
years  of  age,  should  so  well  remember  the  most  ab- 
struse discussions  and  lofty  discourses  concerning 
spiritual  and  heavenly  subjects,  and  yet  recall,  or  have 
brought  to  his  remembrance,  so  little  of  what  was  said 
in  connection  with  the  impressive  scenes  and  events  of 
the  Saviour's  life  and  pilgrimage?  Surely  we  must 
needs  conclude  that,  whatever  they  remembered,  neither 
of  them  had  any  thing  to  do  in  deciding  the  question, 
what  they  should  -write.  And  still  more  preposterous 
is  it  to  imagine  that  Mark  or  Luke  could  have  had  any 
thing  to  do  with  that  question.  The  Infinite  "Wisdom 
of  Him  whose  words  were  to  be  recorded,  in  the  exe- 
cution of  His  prophetic  office,  prescribed,  in  all  respects, 
as  He  was  instructed  by  the  Father,  as  to  the  time 


WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION.      61 

when,  the  persons  by  whom,  and  the  words  in  which 
his  own  oral  discourses,  and  all  that  concerned  His 
life,  His  acts,  His  teachings,  His  death  and  resurrec- 
tion, and  all  the  future  of  His  Kingdom  should  be 
recorded.  Any  thing  short  of  this  is  too  palpably  de- 
rogatory to  Him,  and  to  the  subject  in  every  relation, 
to  be  for  a  moment  admitted.  The  announcements  to 
be  made,  and  the  events  which  were  to  occur,  were  in 
the  power  of  the  Father  to  be  manifested  by  the  Son 
in  His  official  work  in  their  due  order  of  succession. 
There  was  a  fixed  and  critical  moment  for  every  act 
and  event  of  His  life.  Hence,  though  to  Him  as  the 
Messenger  of  the  Father,  all  power  in  heaven  and 
earth  was  given  to  be  exercised  in  the  fulfillment  of 
His  delegated  work,  yet  when  questioned  as  to  things 
not  yet  to  be  disclosed,  He  says  :  "To  sit  on  my  right 
hand,  and  my  left,  is  not  mine  to  give,  but  it  shall  be 
given  to  them  for  whom  it  is  prepared  of  my  Father." 
.  .  .  .  "  But  of  that  day  and  hour  knoweth  no  man, 
no,  not  the  angels  of  heaven,  but  my  Father  only."  .  .  . 
"  My  time  is  not  yet  come.  .  .  .  My  Father  worketh 
hitherto  and  I  work.  .  .  .  The  Son  can  do  nothing  of 
Himself,  but  what  he  seeth  the  Father  do :  for  what 
things  soever  He  doeth,  these  also  doeth  the  Son  like- 
wise. For  the  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  showeth 
Him  all  things  that  Himself  doeth — that  all  men 
should  honor  the  Son,  even  as  they  honor  the  Father. 
He  that  honoreth  not  the  Son,  honoreth  not  the  Father 
which  hath  sent  Him.  ...  I  can  of  mine  own  self  do 
nothing  :  as  I  hear,  I  judge:  and  my  judgment  is  just: 
because  I  seek  not  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  the 
Father  which  hath  sent  me.  .  .  The  works  which 


62      WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION. 

the  Father  hath  given  me  to  finish,  the  same  works 
that  I  do,  bear  witness  of  me  that  the  Father  hath  sent 
me.  ...  I  speak  to  the  world  those  things  which  I 
have  heard  of  Him.  ...  I  do  nothing  of  myself;  but 
as  my  Father  hath  taught  me,  I  speak  these  things. 
And  He  that  sent  me  is  with  me  :  the  Father  hath  not 
left  me  alone.  ...  I  proceeded  forth  and  came  from 
God ;  neither  came  I  of  myself,  but  He  sent  me.  .  .  . 
I  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that  sjsnt  me,  while  it 
is  day — as  long  as  I  am  in  the  world,  I  am  the  Light 
of  the  world.  .  .  .  Say  ye  of  Him  whom  the  Father 
hath  sanctified  and  sent  into  the  world,  Thou  blas- 
phemest  because  I  said,  I  am  the  Son  of  God  ?  The 
hour  is  come  when  the  Son  of  man  should  be  glorified. 
.  .  .  .  Father,  save  me  from  this  hour:  but  for  this 
cause  came  I  unto  this  hour.  ...  I  have  not  spoken 
of  myself ;  but  the  Father  which  sent  me,  He  gave  me 
a  commandment  what  I  should  say,  and  what  I  should 
speak.  .  .  .  When  Jesus  knew  that  His  hour  was  come 
that  He  should  depart  out  of  this  world  unto  the 
Father,  etc.  .  .  .  He  that  receiveth  whomsoever  I  send, 
receiveth  me ;  and  he  that  receiveth  me,  receiveth  Him 
that  sent  me.  .  .  .  No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father, 
but  by  me.  .  .  .  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  I 
speak  not  of  myself:  but  the  Father,  that  dwelleth  in 
me,  He  doeth  the  works.  .  .  .  The  word  which  ye 
hear  is  not  mine,  but  the  Father's  which  sent  me.  .  .  . 
As  the  Father  gave  me  commandment,  even  so  I  do. 
...  If  ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you, 

ye  shall  ask,  etc All  things  that  I  have  heard 

of  my  Father,  I  have  made  known  unto  you.  ...  I 
have  manifested  Thy  name  unto  the  men  which  Thou 


WORDS   OF   GOD   CONVEYED   BY  INSPIRATION.      63 

gavest  me  out  of  the  world.  ...  I  have  given  unto 
them  the  words  which  Thou  gavest  me.  ...  I  have 
given  them  Thy  word.  ...  As  Thou  hast  sent  me 
into  the  world,  even  so  have  I  sent  them,  the  Apostles, 
into  the  world." 

Such  are  some  of  the  expressions  by  which,  on  suc- 
cessive occasions,  He  taught  the  nature  and  extent  of 
His  prophetic  office  as  the  Messenger  of  the  Father  ;  in 
connection  with  which,  and  with  His  appointment  of 
the  apostles  to  be  His  messengers,  He  pointedly  in- 
structed them,  both  by  example  in  washing  their  feet, 
and  by  precept,  that  "  The  servant  is  not  greater  than 
his  lord  ;  neither  he  that  is  sent  greater  than  he  that 
sent  him."  By  the  mission  of  the  Spirit,  He  fully  pro- 
vided for  the  utterance  in  writing  of  the  Grospels  and 
Epistles.  But  when,  in  the  Apocalypse,  new  and  more 
ample  disclosures  were  to  be  made  concerning  His  per- 
son, His  works,  and  the  future  of  His  Kingdom,  they 
were  expressly  given  to  Him  by  the  Father.  (Revela- 
tion 1  :  1.) 

On  this  view  of  the  office  of  Christ  as  Prophet,  and 
His  manner  of  executing  it,  so  far  as  the  Scriptures  and 
the  writing  of  them  are  concerned,  through  the  official 
agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  sent  by  Him,  the  subject  is, 
I  humbly  conceive,  cleared,  by  what  the  Scriptures 
themselves  teach,  from  the  difficulties  and  paradoxes 
so  commonly  supposed  to  embarrass  it.  The  ground 
on  which  the  Holy  Scriptures,  are  by  Christ  Himself, 
and  by  the  Spirit  in  His  name  speaking  in  the  subordi- 
nate messengers,  prophets,  and  apostles,  called  the 
Word  of  God,  is  clearly  manifest.  What  the  Sacred 
Penmen  wrote,  was,  word  for  word,  what  the  Spirit 


64      WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION. 

spoke,  inspired  into  their  minds,  realized  to  their  intel- 
ligent consciousness,  as  they  wrote  it.  He  spake  by 
them  as  appointed,  delegated,  to  receive  and  to  utter 
in  writing  what  He  conveyed  to  them  by  inspiration  ; 
by  them,  by  the  Apostles,  by  the  Evangelists,  by  all 
the  prophets  since  the  world  began.  The  system,  from 
the  beginning,  is  one  comprehensive,  perfect,  effectual 
system,  for  the  infallible  communication  of  the  will  of 
God  to  men.  The  original  texts  of  Scripture  were  to 
the  Levitical  and  Apostolic  Churches,  in  matter  and 
manner,  just  what  they  would  have  been  had  the 
Divine  Messenger  of  the  covenant  dictated  every  word 
of  them  to  the  writers  by  His  own  vocal  utterance,  in- 
stead of  conveying  them,  when  He  was  personally 
absent,  by  the  Spirit  sent  officially  and  expressly  for 
that  purpose. 

Two  only  of  the  difficulties  supposed  to  be  incident 
to  this  view  of  inspiration,  appear  to  me  to  require  a 
word  of  explanation.  If  the  very  words  which  the  sacred 
penmen  wrote  were  dictated  or  conveyed  by  inspira- 
tion into  their  minds ;  if  they  had  no  liberty  or  discre- 
tion in  the  choice  of  subjects,  or  of  words,  how,  it  is 
asked,  can  it  be  possible  that  their  own  individual 
peculiarities  and  personal  circumstances,  acts,  purposes, 
sympathies,  hopes,  fears,  should  be  interposed  as  part 
and  parcel  of  the  sacred  writings  ?  To  which  I  an- 
swer, that  the  entire  scheme  of  mediation,  intercourse, 
and  fellowship  between  God  and  man  involves  and  re- 
quires this.  It  was  therefore  necessary  that  the  Divine 
Messenger  Himself  should  be  capacitated  in  human 
nature  to  sympathize  in  all  that  concerned  His  people 
individually  and  personally,  to  be  touched  with  the  feel- 


WORDS  OF  GOD   CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION.      65 

ing  of  their  infirmities,  to  succor  and  encourage  in  them 
the  sanctified  exercise  of  all  the  emotions  and  affections 
of  their  nature.  Hence  He  employs  men  of  like  pas- 
sions, sympathies,  trials,  with  other  men,  to  preach 
His  word.  There  is  a  basis  in  their  common  nature 
for  sympathy,  attention,  confidence,  faith,  on  the  part 
of  the  hearer,  with  the  voice,  the  manner,  the  earnest- 
ness, the  personal  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  speaker. 
In  like  manner  He  employed  the  sacred  penmen  to 
write  in  His  words  whatever  of  their  personal  experi- 
ence, feelings,  affections,  circumstances,  history,  He 
thought  necessary  for  instruction,  example,  warning,  or 
encouragement  to  others ;  using  their  thoughts  and 
emotions  as  He  used  their  pens,  consistently  with  the 
free  exercise  of  their  faculties,  and  adapting  His  in- 
structions to  the  sympathies  of  the  readers,  and  avail- 
ing Himself  of  the  basis  and  medium  of  sympathy  be 
tween  the  writers  and  readers.  It  is  obvious  that  what- 
ever, concerning  the  internal  or  external  experience 
of  the  writers,  was  to  be  expressed  in  Scripture,  must 
be  expressed  in  perfect  conformity  to  their  conscious- 
ness, and  therefore  in  words  which  they  would  naturally 
have  used.  And  if  the  inspiration  of  those  words  was 
just  as  posssible  to  the  Omniscient  Spirit  as  the  inspira- 
tion of  words  to  express,  on  other  subjects,  either  what 
they  did  or  what  they  did  not  know  before,  then  there  is 
no  difficulty  peculiar  to  the  class  of  words  in  question ; 
and  they  are  the  words  of  God  in  the  same  sense,  and  for 
the  same  reason,  as  all  the  other  words  of  Scripture. 
^But,  says  the  objector,  this  makes  the  writers  mere 
machines  ;  this  is  the  mechanical  theory  of  inspiration. 
This  hackneyed  phrase  has  had  controlling  influence 


66      WORDS  OF  GOD  CONVEYED  BY  INSPIRATION. 

with  the  entire  school  of  writers,  who  from  the  days 
of  Whitby  have  copied  each  other  in  substituting  for 
the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  an  influence  ex- 
erted more  or  less  according  to  exigency,  on  the  men- 
tal faculties  of  the  writers.  They  do  not  condescend  to 
explain  how  men  in  the  intelligent  and  voluntary  ex- 
ercise of  all  their  faculties,  are  any  more  made  ma- 
chines by  writing  words  conveyed  to  them  by  inspira- 
tion than  they  would  be  by  writing  words  audibly  dic- 
tated to  them,  or  copying  words  from  a  manuscript  or 
from  a  printed  book.  Had  they  explained  the  phrase 
it  would  not  have  answered  the  purpose  of  creating 
and  sustaining  a  prejudice  against  verbal  inspiration. 
The  real  purport  of  the  phrase  is,  that  if  the  very 
words  were  inspired  into  the  minds  of  the  sacred  writ- 
ers, then  they  had  no  discretion  either  as  to  the  choice 
of  thoughts  or  words  ;  and  what  they  wrote  of  fact  or 
narrative  that  was  known  to  them  before,  is  the  word 
of  God  in  the  same  sense  and  for  the  same  reason  as 
other  parts  of  Scripture.  Yet  the  same  school  of 
writers  admit  that  the  words  which  expressed  predic- 
tions, and  whatever  they  did  not  know  before,  must 
have  been  dictated,  or  otherwise  prescribed  and  con- 
veyed to  the  writers.  Were  they  then  machines  in 
writing  all  the  most  essential  parts  of  Scripture? 
And  with  respect  to  the  historical  narratives,  is  it  not 
palpable  that  a  resistless  supernatural  influence  on 
their  faculties,  an  infallible  guidance,  direction,  super- 
intendency,  restraint  from  error,  must  have  suspended 
the  free  exercise  of  their  faculties,  and  really  made 
them  mere  machines  ? 


CONCEENING  THE  TABEENACLE.        67 


VI.  REFEEENCE  TO  THE  YEEBAL  INSTEUCTIONS  CON- 
CEENING THE  TABEENACLE  AND  THE  LiEVITICAL 
FAITH  AND  WOESHIP. 

This  view  of  the  prophetic  office,  the  nature  of  in- 
spiration, and  the  merely  ministerial  relation  and 
agency  of  the  prophets  and  apostles,  might  be  con- 
firmed by  reference  to  every  part  of  Scripture.  It 
was  in  the  exercise  of  His  prophetic  office,  that  the 
Messenger  Jehovah  gave  to  Moses  a  minute  verbal 
description,  in  exact  conformity  to  which  the  taber- 
nacle, the  ark,  the  cherubim,  the  table,  the  candlestick, 
the  altar  were  to  be  constructed.  The  description  spe- 
cifies the  materials  to  be  employed,  and  the  dimensions 
and  form  of  the  tent  or  building,  and  of  its  several 
articles  of  furniture.  Moreover  a  pattern  of  these  sev- 
eral objects  was  shown  to  him  in  the  Mount.  The 
structure  itself  was  to  be  the  place  of  His  official  resid- 
ence. It  signified  the  body  in  which  He  was  to  ap- 
pear incarnate.  "  Let  them  make  me  a  sanctuary : 
that  I  may  dwell  among  them.  According  to  all  that 
I  show  thee,  after  the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle,  and 
the  pattern  of  all  the  instruments  thereof,  even  so  shall 
ye  make  it."  After  describing  the  materials,  size, 
form,  and  other  particulars  concerning  the  ark,  the 
mercy-seat,  and  the  cherubim,  He  adds  :  "  And  thou 
shalt  put  the  mercy -seat  above  upon  the  ark ;  and  in 
the  ark  thou  shalt  put  the  testimony  that  I  shall  give 
thee" — that  is,  His  words  in  writing — "  and  there  I 
will  meet  with  thee,  and  I  will  commune  with  thee 
from  above  the  mercy-seat,  from  between  the  two 


68  CONCERNING  THE  TABERNACLE. 

cherubims  which  are  upon  the  ark  of  the  testimony,  of 
all  things  which  I  will  give  thee  in  commandment  unto 
the  children  of  Israel."  The  details  concerning  the 
table,  the  candlestick,  and  the  furniture  connected  with 
them,  being  given,  it  is  said :  "  And  look  that  thou 
make  them  after  their  pattern,  which  was  showed  thee 
in  the  Mount."  Again  after  a  more  minute  detail  con- 
cerning the  construction  of  the  tabernacle,  it  is  added : 
"  And  thou  shall  rear  up  the  tabernacle  according  to 
the  fashion  thereof  which  was  showed  thee  in  the 
Mount."  A  like  injunction  is  given  in  respect  to  the 
altar.  (Exod.  25—27.) 

The  reader  will  observe  that  not  a  word  of  this  de- 
scription was  to  be  omitted  or  deviated  from  in  the 
slightest  degree.  Every  word  was  to  be  literally  com- 
plied with.  The  pattern  which  was  shown  to  Moses, 
and  which  no  doubt  gave  him  an  impression  more 
vivid  and  perfect  than  the  verbal  description  could  pro- 
duce, could  not  be  seen  by  the  artificers  who  were  to 
fabricate  the  objects  described.  To  qualify  them, 
therefore,  to  execute  the  prescribed  work  in  perfect 
conformity  to  the  verbal  description,  special  gifts  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  were  imparted  to  them.  "  The  Lord 
spake  unto  Moses,  saying,  See,  I  have  called  by  name 
Bezaleel  .  .  .  and  I  have  filled  him  with  the  Spirit  of 
God,  in  wisdom,  and  in  understanding,  and  in  know- 
ledge, and  in  all  manner  of  workmanship,  to  devise 

cunning  works,  to  work  in  gold,  etc.,  etc and 

I,  behold,  I  have  given  with  him  Aholiab  ....  and 
in  the  hearts  of  all  that  are  wise-hearted  I  have  put 
wisdom;  that  they  may  make  all  that  I  have  com- 
manded thee :  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  and 


CONCERNING  THE   TABERNACLE.  69 

the  ark  of  the  testimony,"  etc.,  etc.  (Exod.  31.)  These 
designations  and  endowments  are  repeated  in  the 
thirty -fifth  chapter ;  and  in  the  thirty-sixth  it  is  said  : 
"  Then  wrought  Bezaleel,  and  Aholiab,  and  every  wise- 
hearted  man,  in  whom  the  Lord  put  wisdom  and  un- 
derstanding to  know  how  to  work  all  manner  of  work 
for  the  service  of  the  sanctuary,  according  to  all  tfiat  the 
Lord  had  commanded"  Then  follows  in  the  thirty- 
seventh  and  thirty-eighth  chapters  a  detailed  statement 
of  the  things  which  they  actually  made,  corresponding 
to  the  original  prescription.  Thus  the  tabernacle  and 
all  its  furniture  were  produced  through  the  agency  of 
these  artificers  in  exact  conformity  to  the  pattern  shown 
to  Moses  in  the  Mount,  and  to  the  verbal  description 
given  to  him  there. 

Now  the  facts  recorded  in  this  portion  of  sacred  his- 
tory, furnish,  I  apprehend,  a  legitimate  and  irrefrag- 
able argument  to  the  effect:  1.  That  the  words  ad- 
dressed to  Moses  were  spoken  by  Jehovah  in  the  exer- 
cise of  His  prophetic  office.  2.  That  every  word  so 
spoken  by  Him  is  recorded  verbatim  as  He  uttered 
them.  3.  That  His  words  so  spoken  and  recorded  are 
the  infallible  word  of  God  to  be  literally  fulfilled. 
Like  the  pattern  shown  to  Moses  they  have  a  back- 
ground in  the  counsels  of  the  Father,  which  leaves 
nothing  in  matter  or  manner  to  the  competency  or  dis- 
cretion of  men.  In  this  case  it  may  be  said  that  the 
typical  purposes  of  the  tabernable,  the  ark,  the  altar, 
etc.,  required  such  literal  exactness.  But  in  what  case 
of  His  teaching,  directly  or  indirectly,  may  not  the 
same  be  alleged  and  with  equal  force  ?  The  nature 
and  object  of  His  prophetic  ofiice  and  His  teachings 


70        CONCERNING  THE  TABERNACLE. 

forbid  the  assumption  of  any  difference  in  these  re- 
spects. We '  are  here  emphatically  taught  that  His 
words,  as  written  by  His  servants,  are  the  infallible 
words  of  God,  and  must  be  complied  with  and  vindi- 
cated to  the  letter.  If  vocal  articulations,  or  their 
counterparts  in  writing,  are  not  in  every  case  sufficient 
to  render  an  exact  compliance  feasible,  He  will  inter- 
pose visible  patterns,  figures,  emblems,  types,  symbols. 
The  construction  of  His  spiritual  temple  was  the  end, 
towards  which  the  material  tabernacle  was  but  an 
auxiliary ;  and  the  argument  from  the  facts  above 
stated,  is,  that  as  the  tabernacle  was  constructed  in 
exact  conformity  to  the  verbal  directions — the  very 
words  of  Jehovah,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  dependence 
on  human  wisdom  or  discretion — so  all  the  words  of 
Scripture  are  His  words,  in  exact  accordance  with 
which  the  spiritual  house  is  built,  the  spiritual  house 
of  which  God  is  the  builder,  the  foundation  being  His 
own  words  written  by  appostles  and  prophets,  the  in- 
itiative, the  chief  corner,  Jesus  Christ. 

The  same  minute  particularity  of  verbal  description 
is  given,  chapter  thirty-eight,  and  afterwards,  of  the 
ephod,  the  breast-plate,  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  the 
garments  of  the  priests,  the  ceremonies  of  their  conse- 
cration, the  burnt  offering,  and  all  the  sacrifices,  offer- 
ings, rites,  and  observances  prescribed  in  the  ritual  of 
worship.  No  deviation  from  the  verbal  directions 
could  be  permitted  with  impunity.  When  further  in- 
structions were  necessary,  either  in  the  execution  of 
the  typical,  ceremonial,  or  civil  laws,  they  were  verbal- 
ly announced  by  Jehovah  from  between  the  cherubim. 

To  secure  a  like  literal  compliance  with  the  word  of 


CONCERNING  THE  TABERNACLE.        71 

God,  in  respect  to  the  materials,  construction,  and  fur- 
niture of  the  temple,  David  .received  by  the  Spirit  a 
like  minute  verbal  description,  (according  to  which  he 
would  seem  to  have  constructed  patterns,)  which  he  de- 
livered to  Solomon,  and  which  are  summarily  men- 
tioned, 1  Chron.  28. 

There  is  a  deeper  significance  in  all  this  than  to  a 
casual  reader  may  appear  on  the  surface.  Moses  was 
detained  in  the  Mount,  in  the  midst  of  the  cloud,  forty 
days  and  nights,  to  receive  from  the  lips  of  Jehovah 
the  instructions  recorded  in  Exod.  25-31.  Very  pro- 
bably he  wrote  them  there  as  he  received  them ;  as 
David  seems  immediately  to  have  written  the  instruc- 
tions concerning  the  construction  of  the  temple,  which 
he  received  from  the  Spirit.  In  both  cases  the  things 
to  be  constructed,  and  the  sacrifices,  rites,  and  ceremo- 
nies to  be  performed,  were  to  constitute  an  outward, 
visible,  and  exact  expression  of  the  mind  and  will  of 
God,  concerning  the  person,  offices,  incarnation,  sacri- 
fice, and  mediation  of  Christ,  and  the  way  of  salvation 
through  Him ;  an  emblematic,  pictorial,  visible,  repre- 
sentation of  the  leading  truths  of  the  Gospel.  The 
verbal  description  therefore  behooved  to  be  given  in 
His  own  words ;  and  every  precaution  was  accordingly 
taken  that  they  should  be  exactly  recorded  and  literally 
complied  with.  They  were  given  by  Him  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  His  office  as  prophet,  and  the  whole  proced- 
ure most  directly  concerned  the  glory  of  Jehovah  as 
Lawgiver  and  Kedeemer,  as  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King. 
But  the  rest  of  the  Scriptures  were  likewise  given  by 
Him  in  the  exercise  of  His  prophetic  office.  They  are 
the  outward,  visible,  permanent  expression  in  words  of 


72  CONCERNING   THE  TABERNACLE. 

the  mind  and  will  of  God,  concerning  the  same  things 
in  one  relation  or  another.  When  Moses  had  com- 
pleted the  works,  "  according  to  all  that  the  Lord  com- 
manded him,"  the  whole  was  divinely  approved  and 
sanctioned.  "  Then  a  cloud  covered  the  tent  of  the 
congregation,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  filled  the  taber- 
nacle .  .  .  the  cloud  of  the  Lord  was  on  the  tabernacle 
by  day,  and  fire  was  on  it  by  night,  in  the  sight  of  all 
the  house  of  Israel,  throughout  all  their  journeys." 
(Exod.  40.) 

Jehovah,  having  descended  from  Sinai  and  taken  up 
his  residence  in  the  typical  sanctuary,  spake  to  Moses 
the  words  which  constitute  nearly  the  entire  book  of 
Leviticus.  It  contains  in  minute  verbal  detail,  the 
laws,  rites,  and  observances  of  the  religious  service  en- 
joined upon  the  children  of  Israel,  which  were  to  be 
literally  obeyed.  If  strictly  obeyed,  it  promises  abund- 
ant blessings.  On  the  contrary,  the  least  infraction  as 
well  as  general  neglect  and  disobedience,  is  threatened 
with  specific  or  public  and  overwhelming  judgments. 
It  is  to  the  previous  instructions  concerning  the  taber- 
nacle and  its  furniture,  what  the  Epistles  of  the  New 
Testament  are  to  the  Gospels.  Its  spiritual  instruc- 
tion by  visible  acts  and  types,  rendered  exactness  of 
verbal  prescription  absolutely  indispensable.  Accord- 
ingly, as  is  observed  by  Mr.  Bonar,  in  his  Commentary, 
"  There  is  no  book  in  the  whole  compass  of  that  vol- 
ume which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  given  us,  that  contains 
more  of  the  very  words  of  God  than  Leviticus.  It  is 
God  that  is  the  direct  speaker  in  almost  every  page ; 
His  gracious  words  are  recorded  in  the  form  wherein 
they  were  uttered.  .  .  .  The  Gospel  of  the  grace  of 


CONCERNING  THE  TABERNACLE.  73 

God,  with  all  that  follows  in  its  train,  may  be  found  in 
Leviticus.  .  .  .  The  rites  here  detailed  were  typical ; 
and  every  type  was  designed  and  intended  by  God  to 
bear  resemblance  to  some  spiritual  truth.  The  like- 
ness between  type  and  antitype  is  never  accidental." 

Now  a  typical  object  or  action  can  afford  no  definite 
and  accurate  instruction,  unless  the  thing  typified  is 
verbally  understood.  The  accuracy  of  the  verbal  re- 
presentation is  the  test  of  the  instruction  conveyed  by 
the  type.  A  human  face  may  be  so  distinctly  described 
in  words,  that  a  stranger,  on  seeing  an  exact  likeness 
on  canvas,  will  with  certainty  recognize  it.  But  if 
the  verbal  description  was  not  perfectly  accurate,  he 
who  saw  the  picture  would  be  left  in  doubt  and  un- 
certainty. So  in  all  these  words  of  Jehovah  in  Exodus 
and  Leviticus.  They  are  His  infallible  words,  recorded 
as  He  spoke  them,  as  the  criterion  of  the  meaning  of 
types,  literally  fulfilled  in  the  antitypes,  and  vindicated 
in  the  history  of  those  to  whom  they  were  addressed, 
As  the  words  infallibly  described  what  was  to  be  ex- 
hibited and  done  in  the  Levitical  worship,  it  was 
necessary  that  the  typical  objects  and  acts  should  be 
exactly  conformable  to  the  verbal  description ;  other- 
wise they  would  be  understood  to  signify  and  teach 
something  else,  and  not  what  they  were  intended  to 
signify.  The  leading  doctrines  of  religion,  and  the 
meaning  of  their  typical  sacrifices,  had,  prior  to  Moses, 
been  taught  to  the  Patriarchs  and  others,  directly  by 
Jehovah  Himself,  and  the  New  Testament  references 
to  their  faith,  show  that  they  understood  them.  "When 
the  system  was  enlarged  and  perfected  under  Moses, 
many  new  types  and  typical  actions  were  introduced. 

4 


74        CONCERNING  THE  TABERNACLE. 

The  system  was  so  enlarged  and  complicated  as  to  re- 
quire a  minute  verbal  description  of  all  the  details. 
The  signification  of  the  added  types  and  the  whole 
tableaux  of  visible  manifestations  and  acts  was  to  be 
taught  to  the  Priests  and  Levites,  and  through  them  to 
the  people.  And  in  order  that  the  pictorial  instruction 
should  be  infallibly  correct — that  the  types  when  ex- 
hibited to  the  worshippers,  should  signify  exactly  what 
was  intended  by  them — it  was  necessary  that  the  exhi- 
bition should  in  every  particular  exactly  correspond  to 
the  verbal  directions  ;  even  as  it  was  necessary  that  the 
things  pertaining  to  the  tabernacle  should  be  made  in 
exact  conformity  to  the  pattern  shown-  to  Moses  in  the 
mount,  and  to  the  verbal  directions  there  given.  Hence 
the  incessant  and  scrupulous  care  enjoined  upon  the 
Priests,  and  practised  by  them,  in  administering  this 
system. 

Now  from  these  premises,  I  think  an  unanswerable 
argument  is  to  be  derived,  in  proof  of  the  verbal  in- 
spiration of  all  the  words  of  Scripture.  In  all  the  di- 
rections above  referred  to,  the  words  are  confessedly 
the  very  words  of  Jehovah.  The  infallibility  of  the 
words,  and  an  exact  conformity  to  them  in  the  acts, 
was  essential  to  the  accuracy  of  the  instruction,  the 
faith  of  the  worshippers,  and  the  acceptableness  of 
their  worship.  Jehovah  Himself,  who  prescribed  the 
system,  was  personally  present,  beholding  what  took 
place.  If,  then,  this  system  of  typical  instruction,  this 
temporary  ritual,  these  ceremonial  observances,  this 
scheme  of  discipline  and  faith,  having  for  its  end  the 
erection  of  the  spiritual  house  for  w  an  habitation  of 
God  through  the  Spirit,  required,  1st,  to  be  prescribed 


CONCERNING  THE  TABERNACLE.  75 

in  the  very  words  of  its  founder ;  and  2d,  to  be  exe- 
cuted in  exact  conformity  to  the  verbal  prescription ; 
is  it  not  a  legitimate  and  irresistible  inference,  that  all 
those  teachings,  ordinances,  prescriptions,  whether  in 
the  Old  or  the  New  Testament,  which  were  not  aided 
and  enforced  by  external  and  typical  objects  and  acts, 
required,  so  much  the  more  for  that  reason,  to  be  given 
in  His  own  infallible  words  as  the  rule  of  faith  and 
life?  Was  the  Levitical  church  built  on  the  verba 
ipsissima  of  its  founder,  and  the  more  advanced  Christ- 
ian church,  built  not  on  His  own  infallible  words,  but 
on  words  selected  by  men  assisted  according  to  exi- 
gency ?  Was  Christ  the  architect,  builder,  teacher  of 
the  Levitical  church,  and  not  as  truly  and  perfectly 
such  of  the  Christian?  Were  the  apostles  as  His  Mes- 
sengers, superior  to  Moses  ?  Hear  what  the  Scripture 
saith :  "  Consider  the  apostle — (Messenger) — and  High- 
Priest  of  our  profession,  Christ  Jesus ;  who  was  faith- 
ful to  Him  that  appointed  Him,  as  also  Moses  was  faith- 
ful in  all  His  house.  For  He  was  counted  worthy  of 
more  glory  than  Moses,  inasmuch  as  He  who  hath 
builded  the  house,  hath  more  honor  than  the  house. 
For  every  house  is  builded  by  some  one ;  but  He  that 
built  all  things  is  God.  And  Moses  verily  was  faith- 
ful in  all  His  house,  as  a  servant,  for  a  testimony  of 
those  things  which  were  to  be  spoken  after;  but  Christ 
as  a  Son  over  His  own  house ;  whose  house  are  we  if  we 
hold  fast  the  confidence,  and  the  rejoicing  of  the  hope 
firm  unto  the  end."  (Heb.  3.)  This  passage  was  intend- 
ed to  demonstrate  the  superiority  of  Christ  to  Moses, 
and  relates  to  the  founding  of  the  Levitical  church — 
the  house,  the  spiritual  building,  of  which  Moses  was 


76        CONCERNING  THE  TABERNACLE. 

a  constituent.  It  shows:  1.  That  Jehovah,  who  con- 
ducted the  children  of  Israel,  and  dictated  His  laws  to 
them,  was  personally  and  officially  the  same  as  Christ 
Jesus,  the  Messenger  of  the  Father.  2.  That  He  built 
the  church  or  house,  and  that  it  was  His  own.  3.  That 
Moses  was  but  a  servant  to  Him ;  and  hence,  as  He 
was  the  builder,  teacher,  guide,  of  the  house  under  the 
Levitical  system,  He  is  the  same  in  relation  to  the  same 
house  under  the  Christian  system ;  and  as  Moses  was 
but  a  servant,  so  are  the  apostles  but  servants  in  rela- 
tion to  that  building.  The  general  inference  from  the 
whole  is,  that  Moses  had  not  a  particle  of  discretion  in 
regard  to  the  words  which  he  wrote,  nor  in  regard  to  a 
literal  compliance  with  them  ;  and  for  the  same  reason, 
the  sacred  writers  who  succeeded  him  could  not  exer- 
cise a  particle  of  discretion.  It  would  be  every  whit 
as  consistent,  and  as  scriptural,  to  ascribe  to  the  pro- 
phets and  apostles,  the  selection  of  those  persons  who 
should  constitute  the  house  and  be  fitly  framed  together 
for  an  habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit,  (Eph.  2,) 
as  to  ascribe  to  them  the  selection  of  a  single  word  of 
those  Scriptures  in  conformity  to  which  the  house  un- 
der all  dispensations  is  constructed. 

The  argument  from  the  foregoing  premises,  might 
be  indefinitely  illustrated  and  enlarged  upon,  so  as  to 
confirm  by  many  particulars  the  one  conclusion ;  and 
make  it  manifest,  that  as  the  tabernacle  which  was 
pitched  in  the  wilderness  by  the  instrumentality  of 
Moses,  had  its  perfect  prototype  in  the  pattern  shown 
to  him  in  the  mount ;  so  the  Scriptures  as  the  word  of 
God,  are  the  utterances  of  His  mind  and  will  in  His 
own  infallible  words.  They  constitute  in  an  external , 


THE   OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  77 

visible,  and  permanent  form,  His  expression  of  His 
mind  and  will ;  the  embodiment  and  tangible  product 
of  the  prophetic  office  ;  the  portraiture  and  mirror  of 
His  image ;  the  medium  of  His  converse  and  fellow- 
ship in  the  Spirit  with  His  people ;  the  instrument  of 
the  Spirit  in  illuminating,  renewing,  and  sanctifying 
His  people,  and  erecting  them  into  His  spiritual  tem- 
ple ;  the  objective  basis  of  their  faith,  the  warrant  of 
their  prayers,  the  rule  of  their  lives ;  His  verbal  testi- 
mony concerning  Himself,  and  His  past  and  future 
works. 


YH.   THE  LOGOS  AND  THE  SPIRIT  EEVEALED  IN 
THE  OLD  TESTAMENT — THE  FATHER  CHIEFLY  EST 

THE  NEW. 

The  foregoing  doctrine  of  the  prophetic  office  of 
Christ  and  of  His  manner  of  executing  it,  till  all  that 
the  Father  had  determined  to  have  recorded  for  the 
permanent  instruction  of  the  Church  and  the  world, 
was  written,  affords  a  sure  basis  for  the  doctrine  of 
plenary  verbal  inspiration.  He  who  from  the  begin- 
ning was  officially  the  Kevealer  of  the  Father,  received 
His  words,  and  through  the  official  agency  of  the 
Spirit,  and  the  fitting  instrumentality  of  men  appoint- 
ed for  that  purpose,  communicated  them  to  the  world 
in  the  books  of  Holy  Scripture ;  so  that  their  original 
infallibility  and  Divine  authority  were  neither  dimin- 
ished, nor  in  any  manner  hazarded  by  the  transmission. 
All  the  purposes  of  the  Divine  wisdom  respecting  this 
world  and  the  dependent  universe,  the  entire  adminis- 


78  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW. 

tration  of  law  and  government,  providence  and  grace, 
over  fallen  creatures,  through  subordinate  official  agen- 
cies and  instrumentalities,  demanded  that  the  words  of 
God  should  be  conveyed  to  man,  without  abatement 
of  their  infallibility  or  authority ;  for  they  constitute 
the  rule  of  administration,  and  the  only  rule  of  hu- 
man faith,  conduct,  accountability,  and  destiny,  and  as 
such  abide  forever,  and  are  to  be  fulfilled  to  the  letter 
in  all  intermediate  and  all  final  issues.  He  who,  in 
virtue  of  the  eternal  covenant,  took  on  Him  this  office 
of  Kevealer,  Prophet,  Messenger — was  appointed  heir 
of  all  things,  and  head  over  all  things  in  their  rela- 
tions to  His  Church,  and  fulfills  His  mission,  exercises 
His  prerogatives,  and  rules  His  kingdom  in  this  world 
in  accordance  with,  and,  so  far  as  the  obligations  and 
agency  of  man  are  concerned,  by  the  instrumentality 
of  the  word  of  God,  recorded  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
In  the  incipient  and  prefigurative  exercise  of  His 
sacerdotal  office,  He  employed  the  subordinate  instru- 
mentality of  the  Aaronic  priesthood,  under  a  prescribed 
and  rigid  ritual.  In  the  exercise  of  His  regal  office 
during  His  Theocratic  administration,  He  appointed 
David  and  His  lineal  descendants,  to  represent  Him. 
In  the  exercise  of  His  prophetic  office  relatively  to  the 
writing  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  He  sent  the  Spiritr— 
His  immediate,  omniscient,  infallible  messenger — to 
impart  the  words  to  be  written,  to  the  prophets,  apos- 
tles, and  evangelists,  whom  He  appointed  to  receive 
and  write  them;  so  that  when  written,  they  should 
have  the  same  infallibility  and  authority,  as  if  directly 
uttered  by  His  voice,  or  recorded  by  His  hand.  This 
was  alike  demanded,  by  the  nature  and  purpose  of 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  79 

His  office,  His  relations,  as  Messenger  of  the  Father, 
and  as  Lawgiver,  Eedeemer  and  Judge  of  men,  and 
by  the  ignorance,  the  exigencies,  and  all  the  moral 
and  spiritual  relations  of  men. 

His  words  are  the  indispensable  element  of  man's 
faith  in  Him.  Peoples,  nations,  individuals,  that  have 
them  not,  are  wholly  devoid  of  faith.  His  greatest 
utterances  under  the  ancient  and  under  the  present 
dispensation,  were  identical  with  the  forth-putting  of 
His  almighty  power  in  the  production  of  His  visible 
works ;  and  faith  in  the  works  as  His,  neither  exists, 
nor  is  possible  apart  from  His  words.  "  It  was  He 
who  said  BE,  and  it  was."  "  Let  there  be  light,  and 
there  was  light."  "  Behold  I,  even  I,  do  bring  a  flood 
of  waters  upon  the  earth  to  destroy  all  flesh."  "  He 
said  to  Moses,  Stretch  out  thy  hand  over  the  sea.  .  .  . 
and  He  caused  the  sea  to  go  back,  .  .  .  and  the  waters 
were  divided."  "  He  said,"  that  is,  commanded,  let 
there  be,  "  and  there  came  divers  sorts  of  flies.  .  .  .  He 
said,  and  the  locusts  came."  "He  sent  His  word  and 
healed  those  who  cried  to  Him,  and  delivered  them 
from  their  destructions."  "By  the  word  of  Jehovah, 
were  the  heavens  made,  and  all  the  hosts  of  them  by 
the  breath  of  His  mouth."  "  He  rebuked  the  wind, 
and  said  unto  the  sea,  Peace,  be  still ;  and  the  wind 
ceased  and  there  was  a  great  calm."  .  .  .  "  He  said, 
Lazarus,  come  forth ;  and  he  that  was  dead  came  forth." 
Hereafter,  "  all  that  are  in  their  graves  shall  hear  His 
voice,  and  shall  come  forth." 

It  would  seem  to  have  been  the  opinion  of  theolo- 
gical writers  generally,  of  all  denominations,  not  only 
that  very  little  is  to  be  found  in  the  Old  Testament 


80  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW. 

Scriptures  concerning  the  Christ,  either  as  preexisting 
before  His  incarnation,  or  as  exercising  any  of  His 
mediatorial  offices  ;  but  that  still  less  is  recorded  respect- 
ing any  official  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Because 
with  particular  reference  to  His  official  works,  He  is 
expressly  promised  for  the  execution  of  them  after  the 
ascension,  and  the  arrival  of  the  day  of  the  Pentecost, 
it  seems  to  have  been  assumed  that  His  official  works 
were  then  to  be  commenced.  It  has,  apparently,  been 
taken  for  granted  that  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment were  a  Eevelation  of  the  Father,  and  of  His  rela- 
tions and  acts  towards  creatures ;  or  of  the  self-exist- 
ent Unity,  without  distinction  of  persons  or  offices. 
Whereas,  rightly  viewed,  the  Old  Testament,  is  for 
substance  a  Eevelation  of  the  Son  in  His  delegated 
character,  relations,  offices,  and  acts  ;  and  of  the  Spirit 
in  His  offices,  as  sent  to  communicate  to  the  Prophets 
the  words  of  the  anointed  Messenger  of  the  Father,  and 
to  sanctify  the  souls  of  men  through  the  instrumentality 
of  the  truths  recorded.  In  reality,  that  which  the  New 
Testament  adds  to  the  teachings  of  the  Old,  is,  preemi- 
nently, its  Kevelations  concerning  the  Father.  To  this 
object  the  Gospel  of  John,  from  the  third  to  the  seven- 
teenth chapters  inclusive,  and  his  first  two  Epistles, 
are  more  especially  devoted :  and  the  entire  volume 
of  New  Testament  Scriptures  may  be  cited  in  evidence, 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  personally  and  officially 
identical  with  the  Jehovah,  the  Messenger,  (Angel,) 
Jehovah,  the  Messiah,  of  the  Old  Testament,  under 
whatever  names  or  titles  His  works  may  be  ascribed  to 
Him,  in  either  case.  To  Him — the  Logos  from  the  be- 
ginning— the  law,  the  prophets,  and  the  Psalms  relate. 


THE   OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  81 

Of  Him  —  the  Logos  incarnate  —  the  Apostles  and 
Evangelists  wrote.  In  His  complex  person,  perfected 
by  His  incarnation,  and  visibly  manifested  to  the 
world,  He  revealed,  declared,  made  known  the  Father, 
as  personally  and  officially  distinguished  from  Him- 
self, and  as  having  sent  Him  to  proclaim  and  execute 
His  will.  The  Greek  word  translated  Father  occurs 
in  the  New  Testament  more  than  twelve-score  times  as 
a  designation  of  the  Father,  in  distinction  from  the  Son 
and  Spirit.  The  parallel  Hebrew  word,  though  some- 
times employed  in  the  sense  of  Creator,  as  in  Isaiah 
63  and  64,  does  not  occur  as  distinctive  of  the  Father,  ex- 
cept prophetically,  2  Sam.  7  :  14,  as  quoted,  Heb.  1 :  5. 
That  He  is  distinctively  referred  to,  however,  under 
those  names  which  indicate  the  Divine  nature  of  the 
respective  persons  of  the  Godhead,  is  manifest  in  vari- 
ous places :  as  in  Psalm  2  :  7,  where  the  Son  makes 
the  declaration,  "  Jehovah  hath  said  unto  me,  Thou  art 
my  Son,"  etc.,  and  Psalms  22 : 1,  etc. ;  45  :  2,  7  ;  110  :  4, 
and  elsewhere.  And  that  the  Patriarchs,  Moses,  and 
the  Prophets  understood  sufficiently  to  evolve  and 
regulate  their  faith,  what  is  more  fully  revealed  in  the 
Gospel,  concerning  the  Father,  is  as  evident  as  that 
they  understood  any  thing  distinctively  of  the  Re- 
deemer, the  Sanctifier,  and  the  method  of  salvation. 
The  faith  through  which  they  were  justified  is  express- 
ly commended  in  the  Gospel  as  the  model  of  that  of 
Christian  believers.  Their  faith  looked  forward 
through  covenants,  promises,  predictions,  ordinances, 
types,  as  that  of  Christian  believers  looks  back  to  the 
central  manifestation  of  the  system  in  the  Incarnation 
and  sacrifice  of  Christ.  But  in  all  that  concerned 


82  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW. 

their  instruction,  their  ritual  and  mode  of  worship,  and 
their  forms  of  obedience,  they  had  to  do  directly  with 
the  Son  as  the  official  administrator  of  the  system,  visi- 
ble in  His  personal  manifestations,  works,  and  words  ; 
and  with  the  Spirit  sent  invisibly  to  inspire  His  words 
into  the  minds  of  Prophets  appointed  to  utter  them 
vocally  or  in  writing,  and  through  those  words  as  His 
instrument  to  enlighten,  renew,  and  sanctify  believers. 
Their  faith  in  the  things  announced  and  foreshown, 
but  then  future —  unequalled,  unparalleled  by  the  re- 
trospective faith  of  modern  times  —  demonstrates  that 
they  had  an  intelligent  apprehension  of  the  system. 
Well  did  David  know,  what  he  plainly  declares,  that 
the  Spirit  spake  by  him.  "Well  did  the  prophets  know 
that  He  spake  by  them  —  by  every  true  prophet  since 
the  world  began.  "Well  did  every  believer  know  the 
Spirit  as  his  inward  illuminator,  teacher,  and  sanctifier. 
The  Hebrew  word  translated  Spirit  occurs  in  the 
ancient  Scriptures  some  four-score  times,  as  a  personal 
designation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  sent,  as  speaking  by 
the  mouth  of  the  prophets,  as  being  poured  out,  given 
to,  dwelling  in  believers,  etc.,  while  under  other  desig- 
nations, and  in  the  effects  properly  to  be  ascribed  to 
Him,  He  is  continually  referred  to.  And  that  His  of- 
ficial presence  and  agency  in  the  true  worshippers  was 
realized  at  every  period,  is  implied  in  their  recorded 
experience,  in  the  expressions  of  individuals  from  the 
days  of  Abraham  to  the  advent,  and  in  those  of  Simeon 
and  Anna  at  that  period.  In  a  word :  The  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures,  together  with  the  New,  are  as  truly  and 
comprehensively  the  work  of  the  Spirit,  as  the  material 
universe  was  the  work  of  the  Logos  in  the  beginning. 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  83 

They  are  the  visible  and  abiding  monument  of  His  of- 
ficial agency  in  the  execution  of  the  mediatorial  sys- 
tem, and  in  accordance  with  the  eternal  covenant. 
They  stand  related  to  all  ranks  of  intelligent  crea- 
tures ;  disclosing  to  the  successive  generations  of  men, 
and  to  principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly  places, 
the  manifold  wisdom  of  God,  in  His  infallible  words, 
as  "  revealed  unto  His  holy  Apostles  and  Prophets  by 
the  Spirit."  They  are  the  medium  of  His  indwelling 
presence  and  influence  in  the  hearts  of  believers,  and 
the  indispensable  instrument  of  His  sanctifying  energy. 
They  are  the  public  testimony  and  declaration  to  the 
world,  and  the  dependent  universe,  of  His  Deity  and 
Personality,  of  His  coequality  with  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  of  His  official  works,  and  of  the  vastness,  the  per- 
manence, and  the  ever-increasing  results  of  His  om- 
niscient and  ceaseless  agency. 

The  Gospel,  and  the  first  two  Epistles  of  John,  writ- 
ten last  of  all  the  Scriptures,  are  devoted  chiefly  to  the 
Eevelation  of  the  Father:  especially  the  Gospel, 
Chap.  3-17.  The  first  chapter  of  the  Gospel,  how- 
ever, relates  to  the  Son  in  His  delegated  character, 
the  Logos  as  revealed,  and  as  the  Kevealer  and  actor 
throughout  the  prior  dispensations,  and  at  His  incarna- 
tion. In  this  official  character  He  was  in  the  begin- 
ning. All  things  were  made  by  Him.  In  Him  was 
life,  he  gave  life  to  all  creatures.  He  was  the  light, 
the  source  and  giver  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  light 
to  men.  He  was,  that  is,  from  the  beginning,  in  the 
world,  and  the  world  was  made  by  Him,  and  the  world 
knew  Him  not.  The  light  shone,  but  the  darkness 
admitted  it  not.  He  came  to  His  ancient  chosen  peo- 


84  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW. 

pie,  but  they,  with,  some  exceptions,  received  Him  not. 
At  length,  He  became  incarnate,  and  manifested  His 
personality,  His  peculiar  office  work,  and  His  glory  as 
proceeding  from  the  Father. 

In  this  retrospective  and  historical  view,  He  is  called 
the  Logos,  which  is  a  primary  designation  of  Him  in 
His  official  relations  as  creator  and  upholder  of  all 
things,  and  as  Kevealer  of  the  Father.  The  appropri- 
ation of  this  abstract  term  as  a  personal  designation  of 
the  Kevealer  of  God,  is  by  some  recent  critics  traced 
to  the  consideration  that  consciousness  in  an  intelligent 
being — consciousness  of  existence,  of  affections,  of 
thoughts,  is  realized  in  words  —  silently  articulated  or 
conceived ;  which  when  vocally  expressed  or  written, 
reveal  the  thoughts  which  were  primarily  conceived  in 
them.  Hence  the  concrete  Hebrew  term  Ddbar,  and 
the  Chaldee  term  Memra,  as  used  to  represent  the  vocal 
articulation  of  the  thoughts  of  which  the  Being  was 
silently  conscious.  Such,  so  far  as  we  know,  is,  un- 
doubtedly, the  law  of  mind,  of  intellectual  conscious- 
ness and  action.  And  since  the  thoughts  of  the 
Divine  mind,  so  far  as  they  are  made  known  to  us, 
may  be  truly  conceived  by  us,  and  since  the  words  in 
which  they  are  made  known,  are  the  words  in  which 
we  conceive  and  become. conscious  of  them,  it  would 
seem  to  be  as  proper  to  suppose  this  to  be  a  law'  of  the 
Divine  mind  as  to  suppose  that  the  audible  vocal  ar- 
ticulations of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit, 
respectively,  which  are  recorded  in  the  Scriptures,  truly 
convey  to  us  the  otherwise  inscrutable  thoughts  of  the 
Divine  mind. 

On  this  view,  when  we  call  the  Scriptures  the  word 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  85 

of  God,  we  mean  that  the  original  words  of  Scripture 
are  the  written  representation  of  the  silent  or  the  vocal 
articulations  in  which  the  thoughts  which  they  express 
were  consciously  conceived  and  existed  in  the  Divine 
mind.  To  convey  those  thoughts  in  those  words  ap- 
pertained to  the  Logos  in  His  prophetic  office.  If  we 
have  the  thoughts,  we  have  through  His  official 
agency  the  very  words  in  which  the  thoughts  origin- 
ally inhered,  and  were  committed  to  Him  to  be  pub- 
lished to  the  world.  In  part  He  published  them  by 
His  own  vocal  utterances  ;  and  in  part  by  the  agency 
of  the  Spirit  on  His  behalf  inspiring  them  into  the 
minds  of  the  sacred  writers. 

To  say  then  with  strictness  and  propriety,  that  the 
words  of  the  original  texts  of  Scripture  are  the  words 
of  God,  is  to  say  that  they  are  in  visible  writing,  the 
articulations  in  which  as  audibly  uttered  or  silently 
conceived,  the  thoughts  conveyed  were  originally 
realized  in  the  Divine  mind.  In  other  words,  that 
thoughts  in  the  Divine  mind  are  verbal  in  a  manner 
corresponding  to  that  of  thoughts  in  the  human  mind ; 
so  that  when  vocally  articulated  or  written,  they  remain 
as  truly  His  as  the  thoughts  which  they  express.  All 
that  we  know  of  the  thoughts  as  His,  is  expressed  in 
the  words  as  His,  as  the  original,  formal,  and  indispen- 
sable mode  and  vehicle  of  the  thoughts ;  as  in  the  case 
of  man,  he  expresses  his  thoughts  in  words,  and  the 
words  are  as  truly  and  in  the  same  sense  his  as  the 
thoughts  are. 

Hence  when  the  Logos  tells  us  that  He  came  down 
from  heaven,  not  to  do  His  own  will,  not  to  speak  His 
own  words  or  as  of  Himself ;  but  to  do  the  will  of  the 


86  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW. 

Father  who  sent  Him,  to  speak,  as  His  Messenger,  the 
words  prescribed  by  Him,  He  must  be  understood  to 
mean  the  very  words  in  which  the  thoughts  were  pre- 
scribed and  realized  to  His  consciousness.  And  when 
the  Spirit  in  His  name,  and  on  His  behalf,  was  sent, 
under  the  same  specific  restrictions,  to  convey  the  pre- 
scribed thoughts  to  the  sacred  writers,  the  same  ad- 
herence to  the  words  in  which  they  were  prescribed, 
is  rendered  certain  by  the  terms  of  His  commission. 

So  far  then  as  concerns  the  original  texts,  there  is 
the  same  evidence  that  we  have  the  very  words  of  God, 
that  there  is  that  we  have  His  thoughts.  They  are  the 
words  of  God  officially  prescribed  and  given  by  Him 
to  the  Son  as  His  Messenger.  And  as  the  Son  prima- 
rily executed  His  prophetic  office  by  vocally  and  audi- 
bly uttering  the  words  given  to  Him,  and  thus 
manifested  Himself  to  the  world  by  His  verbal  utter- 
ances, He  was  designated  by  the  abstract  term  which 
naturally  and  forcibly  indicated  His  peculiar  office  and 
mission. 

Consistently  with  this,  and  with  the  just  authority  of 
translations,  we  denominate  our  version  of  the  original 
texts  the  word  of  God,  on  the  ground  of  its  being  a 
true  expression  in  English  words  of  the  thoughts  ex- 
pressed in  the  original  text.  That  text  furnished  a 
perfect  standard  of  the  thoughts :  so  that  a  translator 
who  perfectly  conceived  the  thoughts  in  the  words  of 
that  text,  and  perfectly  conceived  the  same  thoughts  in 
the  words  of  another  language,  might  express  them  as 
perfectly  as  the  original  expressed  them.  To  whatever 
extent  he  accomplished  that,  his  version  would  be  of 
like  authority  with  the  original,  and  as  such  would  be, 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  87 

with  propriety,  called  the  word  of  God,  as  expressing 
His  mind  and  will  with  the  same  certainty  as  the 
original ;  and  to  whatever  extent  he  failed  of  this,  his 
version  would  lack  authority. 

On  this  view  of  the  official  character  and  relations 
of  the  respective  persons  of  the  Godhead,  making  their 
acts  official  acts,  and  regarding  the  Logos  from  the 
beginning  as  executing  the  external  works  of  creation, 
providence,  and  grace,  and  His  offices  of  Prophet, 
Priest,  and  King,  the  Old  Testament  becomes  intelli- 
gibly harmonious  with  the  New,  and  the  Scriptures 
exhibit  throughout  a  perfect  unity  of  plan,  and  entire 
coherence  and  consistency  in  their  details.  They  ex- 
hibit the  mind  and  will  of  the  Godhead,  officially  repre- 
sented by  the  Father,  and  manifested  by  the  personal 
agencies  of  the  Son  and  the  Spirit  as  His  Messengers. 
Thus  all  that  appertained  to  the  work  of  the  Logos  is 
in  harmony  with  His  officially  subordinate  relations, 
whether  before  or  after  His  incarnation.  Being  the 
recognized  actor  and  revealer  from  the  beginning,  the 
mediator  between  the  invisible  Godhead  —  officially 
represented  by  the  Father  —  and  the  human  race,  He 
prescribed  their  obedience  and  their  worship ;  and 
after  the  apostasy  of  man,  their  worship  by  sacrifices, 
and  their  ritual  of  service.  In  the  exercise  of  His  sa- 
cerdotal office,  He  presided  over  that  worship,  and  was 
as  mediator,  its  immediate  object.  To  Him,  in  this 
view,  the  altars  of  sacrifice  were  erected  by  the  patri- 
archs ;  who  at  those  consecrated  places  called  on  His 
name,  and  received  verbal  communications  from  Hun. 
So  during  the  period  of  the  Tabernacle  and  that  of  the 
first  Temple.  The  prayers  of  the  worshippers  uniformly, 


88  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW. 

like  those  of  Abraham  just  prior  to  the  destruction  of 
Sodom,  were  addressed  to  Him  as  being  the  mediator 
personally  present,  by  whom  and  through  whom  their 
worship  was  accepted.  This  usage  was  continued 
under  the  New  Testament  until  the  Levitical  system 
was  superseded,  and  the  Father  revealed  as  officially 
the  ultimate  object  of  spirital  worship.  Hitherto  the 
worshippers  had  looked  through  their  typical  sacrifices 
to  the  Divine  Mediating  Logos,  who  interceded  for  them 
with  the  invisible  God.  But  in  anticipation  of  His 
personally  visible  withdrawment  from  them,  and  of  a 
more  full  disclosure  of  the  system,  He  more  particu- 
larly taught  them  concerning  the  Father.  "  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  the 
Father  in  my  name,  He  will  give  it  you.  Hitherto 
have  ye  asJced  nothing  in  my  name :  ask  and  ye  shall  re- 
ceive, that  your  joy  may  be  full.  These  things  have 
I  spoken  unto  you  in  proverbs  :  but  the  time  cometh 
when  I  shall  no  more  speak  unto  you  in  proverbs,  but 
I  shall  show  you  plainly  of  the  Father.  At  that  day 
ye  shall  ask  in  my  name :  and  I  say  not  unto  you, 
that  I  will  pray  the  Father  for  you :  for  the  Father 
Himself  loveth  you,  because  ye  have  loved  me,  and 
have  believed  that  I  came  out  from  God.  I  came  forth 
from  the  Father  and  came  into  the  world,"  etc.  (John 
16  :  23-28.)  These  passages  and  others  relating  to 
the  same  subject,  seem  clearly  to  teach,  that  previously 
the  prayers  of  the  true  worshippers,  offered  through 
the  mediative  significance  of  typical  rites,  had  been 
addressed  to  God  only  as  manifested  in  the  personal 
Logos ;  who  in  His  Divine  nature  and  His  official  acts, 
was  Jehovah  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  89 

Jacob.  They  regarded  Him  as  Jehovah  their  right- 
eousness— God,  their  Saviour.  Beyond  Him,  proba- 
bly, no  others  than  spiritual  worshippers  had  any 
reference.  For  He  Himself  says:  "O  righteous  Fa- 
ther, the  world  hath  not  known  Thee :  but  I  have 
known  Thee,  and  these  have  known  that  Thou  hast 
sent  me.  And  I  have  declared  unto  them  Thy  name, 
and  will  declare  it:  that  the  love  wherewith  Thou 
hast  loved  me  may  be  in  them,  and  I  in  them." 
(John  17.)  Subsequently,  throughout  the  Epistles, 
the  Father  is  often  distinctively  mentioned ;  and 
prayers,  thanksgivings,  and  doxologies  are  addressed 
to  Him. 

The  order  in  which  the  official  relations  of  the 
persons  of  the  Godhead  were  manifested  and  recorded 
in  the  Scriptures,  is  natural  and  congruous  to  man's 
apprehension.  The  actor  and  revealer  in  visible 
works  and  audible  words,  behooved  first  to  make 
Himself  known  by  His  acts  and  the  manifestation  of 
His  offices.  By  exhibiting  the  works  of  creation  and 
Providence,  by  prescribing  social  and  religious  institu- 
tions, by  verbal  revelations  and  instructions,  by 
piacular  sacrifices,  and  by  acting  as  civil  Head  and 
Euler  of  His  people ;  and  at  length  by  becoming  in- 
carnate, and  fulfilling  the  predictions  and  typical  rep- 
resentations of  the  past,  He  incidentally  declared  and 
prepared  the  way  for  that  distinctive  and  ample  decla- 
ration of  the  Father,  which  is  recorded  in  the  Gospel. 
In  His  revelations  and  instructions  from  the  beginning, 
the  official  personal  agency  of  the  Spirit  was  exerted, 
invisibly,  in  communicating  His  words  to  the  prophets 
and  sacred  writers ;  through  which  delegated  agency, 


90  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW. 

by  their  instrumentality,  He  uttered  the  sacred  oracles 
in  writing.  That  the  relations  of  the  respective  per- 
sons were,  in  a  proper  sense,  official,  is  evident  from 
the  representation  that  the  Son  was  subordinate  to  the 
Father,  and  the  Spirit  to  the  Father  and  the  Son ; 
whereas,  apart  from  those  relations,  they  were  coequal 
and  one  in  essence.  Nor  is  this  view  a  novelty. 
Augustine  —  as  quoted  by  Calvin — treating  of  this 
subject,  says :  "  These  distinctive  appellations  denote 
their  reciprocal  relations  to  each  other.  .  .  .  The  Fa- 
ther, considered  in  Himself,  is  called  God ;  but  with 
relation  to  the  Son,  He  is  called  the  Father.  .  .  .  Christ 
considered  in  Himself,  is  called  God ;  but  with  rela- 
tion to  the  Father,  He  is  called  the  Son." 

I  perceive  no  foundation  for  the  distinction  which 
some  make,  between  the  Logos,  in  respect  to  His  sub- 
ordination, relations,  or  offices,  and  the  Christ,  the  God- 
man,  the  Theanthropos.  The  Logos  was  in  the  begin- 
ning— all  things  were  made  by  Him.  The  Logos  became 
incarnate  and  dwelt  with  men — the  God-man — the 
Christ.  As  predicted  yet  to  come,  "  clothed  with  a 
vesture  dipped  in  blood,  His  name  is  called  the  Logos 
of  God."  (Rev.  19.)  In  Colossians  1,  He  is  distin- 
guished from  the  Father  as  "  His  dear  Son  :  in  whom 
we  have  redemption  through  His  blood ;"  and  "  by 
Him,"  under  that  designation,  "  were  all  things  created, 
that  are  in  heaven,  and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and 
invisible,  whether  they  be  thrones,  or  dominions,  or 
principalities,  or  powers :  all  things  were  created  by 
Him  and  for  Him :  and  He  is  before  all  things,  and 
by  Him  all  things  consist.  And  He  is  the  Head  of  the 
body  the  Church."  Here  all  the  works,  relations,  and 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  91 

offices,  wliicli  are  elsewhere  ascribed  to  the  Logos  and 
the  Christ,  are  ascribed  to  the  Son.  The  same  things, 
which  in  one  place,  whether  in  the  Old  or  the  New 
Testament,  are  ascribed  to  Him  under  one  relative  or 
official  title,  are  under  other  titles  ascribed  to  Him  in 
other  places.  In  very  numerous  instances  different 
titles,  which  represent  the  same  Person  in  His  subor- 
dinate relations,  occur  interchangeably;  and  those 
which  are  used  with  special  reference  to  the  one  or  to 
the  other  nature  in  the  complex  Person,  are  used  inter- 
changeably with  those  which  specially  refer  to  the 
complex  Person.  The  Person  is  the  same,  whether 
contemplated  as  the  Logos  before  or  after  the  human 
nature  was  united  to  that  Person.  He  was  the  Jeho- 
vah, the  Messenger,  the  Anointed,  under  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, in  the  same  sense,  the  same  subordinate  rela- 
tions, the  same  offices,  as  He  is  the  Lord,  the  one  sent, 
the  Christ,  under  the  New  Testament.  He  appeared  in 
the  Shekina,  in  the  tabernacle  and  temple,  and  to 
Isaiah  and  Ezekiel,  and  also  on  the  holy  mount,  to 
Saul  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  and  to  John  in  the  isle 
of  Patmos.  His  works,  manifestations,  acts,  under  the 
Old,  are  recognized  as  His  in  the  New;  and  those 
under  the  New  are  prefigured  and  predicted  in  the  Old 
Testament.  In  all  alike  He  is  the  same  delegated 
Person.  In  the  apocalypse  He  is  styled  the  Alpha  and 
Omega,  the  First  and  the  Last,  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord, 
the  Son  of  God,  the  Lamb  of  God,  the  Word  of  God. 
As  such,  the  redeemed  and  the  angels  of  heaven  wor- 
ship Him.  All  that  we  know  concerning  Him,  we 
know  of  Him  in  the  official,  delegated,  subordinate 
relations  and  agencies  which  He  sustains,  and  by  which 


92  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW. 

He  is  rendered  cognizable  and  conceivable  by  us.  I 
apprehend  that  all  that  He  did  and  does — as  Creator, 
Ruler,  Revealer,  Redeemer — is  in  one  relation  to  the 
Father  —  that  of  official  subordination,  (See  Hebrews 
Chap.  1,  and  Eph.  3)  —  while,  distinguished  as  the 
Second  Person  of  the  Trinity,  He  is  the  coequal  of  the 
Father.  But  whether  this  view  be  adopted  by  every 
one;  or  not,  can  make  no  difference  in  respect  to  the 
Prophetic  office  of  the  Divine  Revealer.  For  in  that 
office  no  one  can  doubt  but  that  He  was  subordinate  to 
the  Father :  as  a  Messenger — one  sent — is  in  the  nature 
of  the  case,  subordinate  to  Him  by  whom  He  is  sent. 

What  I  contend  for  is  that  the  original  Hebrew  and 
Greek  texts  were  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  as  they 
were  written.  On  no  other  ground  can  I  conceive 
them  to  be  infallible,  or  entitled  to  be  called  the  word 
of  God ;  as  they  are  according  to  their  own  declara- 
tions. "With  questions  and  difficulties,  alleged  to  exist 
in  the  present  state  of  these  texts,  I  meddle  not.  What- 
ever they  may  be,  and  I  apprehend  them  to  be  far  less 
real  and  important  than  is  commonly  imagined,  they 
are,  I  conceive,  fully  as  hard  to  be  surmounted  on  any 
other  view  of  the  subject,  as  on  that  of  original  Verbal 
Inspiration :  that  is,  if  the  Bible  is,  in  respect  to  its 
contents,  to  be  considered  as  any  thing  more  than  a 
mere  human  composition.  If  they  are  the  word  of 
God,  uttered  by  the  Spirit  through  the  sacred  penmen, 
then  to  ascribe  to  man's  agency  any  thing  of  their 
matter  or  manner,  can  be  neither  more  scriptural,  nor 
more  rational,  than  to  account  for  the  Divine  act  of 
creation,  by  ascribing  the  matter  of  the  globe,  and  its 
original  forms,  to  chemical  affinities  and  gravitation. 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  93 

The  difficulties,  whatever  they  may  be,  actually 
exist.  They  have  arisen  since  the  texts  were  origi- 
nally written.  Suppose  that  the  words  first  written 
were  given  to  the  writers  by  Inspiration,  and  were 
therefore  infallible,  and  perfect  for  all  the  purposes  in- 
tended ;  and  that  these  difficulties  of  various  readings, 
omissions,  redundancies,  and  the  like,  are  due  to  the 
writers  of  the  manuscript  copies  now  extant.  Then 
we  have  to  a  very  large,  though  indefinite  extent,  the 
original  infallible  words.  To  that  extent  they  are  the 
very  words  of  God,  and  are  an  authoritative  and  perfect 
standard,  by  which  to  test  the  various  readings  and 
discrepancies.  Now,  since  these  variations  in  different 
copies  are,  by  common  consent,  admitted  not  to  affect 
any  important  fact  or  doctrine,  or  if  they  do  in  any  in- 
stance, such  fact  or  doctrine  is  elsewhere  and  repeated- 
ly expressed  in  the  earliest,  most  perfect  and  most 
reliable  copies,  the  correction  of  them  only  requires  a 
comparison  with  that  which  is  adopted  as  the  standard. 
This  settles  the  matter,  obviates  the  difficulty,  and 
leaves  the  text  in  its  unimpaired  authority.  To  what- 
ever extent  this  may  be  accomplished,  you  have  the 
infallible  standard,  the  original  words,  intact. 

But  suppose  the  original  text,  and  that  of  the  oldest 
copies,  to  have  consisted  of  the  selected  and  fallible 
words  of  man,  like  the  words  substituted,  or  interpo- 
lated by  the  copyists,  then,  though  you  may  have  an 
approximately  original,  you  have  at  best  but  a  fallible 
text,  by  which  to  correct  variations.  The  process  of 
correction  by  such  a  text  could  not  possibly  be  easier 
or  more  certain,  than  by  a  fixed  and  infallible  standard. 

It  is  on  the  ground  of  the  official  relations  and  words 


94  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW. 

of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  His  personality,  and  that  sins 
against  Him  personally,  are  specified  in  Scripture.  In 
His  relations  to  men,  He  is  personally  the  immediate 
author,  teacher,  giver,  of  all  their  knowledge,  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual,  of  the  holiness  and  perfection  of 
the  Divine  Being,  through  His  inspired  words  and  by 
His  indwelling,  enlightening,  purifying  influence.  In 
the  execution  of  His  office  He  stands  between  the  Son 
as  Kedeemer,  and  those  whom  He  redeems:  and  by 
His  own  energy  through  the  Word  of  God  as  His  in- 
strument, brings  them  into  union  with  Him.  They 
individually,  and  as  a  community  of  believers — the 
church — "are  built  on  the  foundation  of  the  apostles 
and  prophets."  That  foundation  is,  indubitably,  the 
Word  of  God,  written  by  the  apostles  and  prophets  as 
it  was  given  to  them — inbreathed,  inspired  by  the 
Spirit.  It  is  therefore  the  infallible  and  only  basis  of 
that  faith  by  which  believers  are  united  to  Christ  and 
made  partakers  of  the  redemption  purchased  by  Him. 
The  Spirit  is  as  the  Inspirer,  the  immediate  author  of 
that  Word.  It  is  written,  that  it  may  be  His  instru- 
ment lodged  in  the  understandings  and  hearts  of  men. 
To  resist  and  reject  that  "word  is  to  resist  Him,  and  re- 
ject His  regenerating  and  sanctifying  influence.  He 
who  rejects  His  words,  rejects  the  only  instrument  by 
which  He  exerts  His  power  and  influence  on  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  men.  To  persist  in  rejecting  His  words, 
is  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  renovation  and  sancti- 
fication;  and  is  a  sin  against  Him  personally.  As 
illustrations  of  this,  I  may  cite  a  Scripture  or  two  with 
reference  to  the  church  of  the  ancient  dispensation. 
Stephen,  Acts  7,  referring  to  the  history  of  the  He- 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  95 

brews  and  Israelites  from  the  call  of  Abraham  to  the 
day  of  his  own  arrest  and  martyrdom,  says,  to  their 
representatives,  the  Sanhedrim  or  council,  before  whom 
he  was  called  to  defend  himself:  "Ye  stiff-necked  and 
Tincircumcised  in  heart  and  ears,  ye  do  always  resist  the 
Holy  Ghost:  as  you  fathers  did,  so  do  ye.  Which  of 
the  prophets  have  not  your  fathers  persecuted?  And 
they  have  slain  them  which  showed  before  of  the  com- 
ing of  the  Just  One,  of  whom  ye  have  been  now  the 
betrayers  and  murderers ;  who  have  received  the  law 
by  the  instrumentality  of  Messengers  and  have  not 
kept  it;"  which  plainly  imports,  that  they  rejected  the 
words  of  the  Holy  Spirit  uttered  by  the  prophets  as 
messengers  of  God.  And  Isaiah,  chap.  63,  with  the 
same  retrospective  reference,  says:  " They  rebelled  and 
vexed  the  Holy  Spirit." 

The  official  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  conveying 
the  words  of  God  to  men,  whether,  as  in  the  earliest 
ages,  only  to  be  uttered  vocally  by  them,  or  at  later 
periods  to  be  uttered  vocally  and  in  writing,  is  the 
foundation,  the  condition  precedent  to  His  official  work 
of  sanctification.  As  His  instruments  they  must  be 
received,  understood,  lodged  in  their  minds,  prior  to 
His  exerting  that  work.  For  He  works  in,  through, 
by,  them,  and  not  otherwise.  Hence  the  absolute  ne- 
cessity of  their  being  published,  preached,  and  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  received,  understood,  realized  to 
the  consciousness  of  every  individual  in  whom  He 
works  a  change  of  heart,  enlightens,  teaches,  purifies, 
and  preserves  through  faith  unto  salvation.  They  may 
be  more  or  less  received  and  understood,  as  hitherto  to  a 
great  extent  they  have  been,  by  men  in  whom  He  does 


96  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW. 

not  execute  His  official  work ;  but  He  executes  that  work 
in  none  who  have  not  some  intellectual  knowledge  and 
conviction  of  them.  And  were  the  conviction  indubi- 
tably fixed  in  the  minds  of  all  who  read  or  hear  the 
words  of  Scripture,  that  they  are  "  in  truth  the  words 
of  God,"  afar  more  extended  execution  of  His  work 
might  be  confidently  expected.  This,  in  the  future, 
will  undoubtedly  be  realized.  The  seed,  which  is  the 
Word  of  God,  will,  as  in  the  apostolic  age,  be  sown 
unmixed  with  tares,  and  will  be  made  to  germinate  by 
the  energy  of  the  Spirit.  They  shall  be  all  taught  of 
God,  The  Spirit  will  be  poured  out  upon  all  flesh. 
Then  will  the  official  work  of  the  almighty,  omniscient, 
omnipresent  Spirit,  as  regenerator  and  conservator  of 
the  Church,  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  words 
inspired  by  Him,  be  fully  manifested  and  acknowl- 
edged, to  the  glory  of  the  Father  and  of  Christ.  Then 
shall  the  head  stone  of  the  spiritual  temple  be  exalted 
with  shoutings  of  Grace,  grace ! — not  by  man's  power, 
"  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts."  "Faith," 
says  Calvin,  book  3d,  "has  a  perpetual  relation  to  the 
word,  and  can  no  more  be  separated  from  it,  than  the  rays 
from  the  sun,  whence  they  proceed.  Therefore  God 
proclaims  by  Isaiah,  Hear  and  your  souls  shall  live.  And 
that  the  word  is  the  fountain  of  faith,  is  evident  from  this 
language  of  John  :  These  are  written  that  ye  might  be- 
lieve. .  .  .  The  word  itself,  however  it  may  be  con- 
veyed to  us,  is  like  a  mirror,  in  which  faith  may  behold 
God."  The  nature,  universality,  and  permanency  of 
the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  the  Church,  manifest  the  re- 
lation of  His  official  agency  to  the  progress  and  con- 
summation of  that  scheme  of  grace,  of  which  the 
world  itself  was  created  to  be  the  scene. 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  97 

If  the  Holy  Spirit  actually  revealed  any  thing, 
made  any  original  communications  to  the  prophets  or 
apostles,  as  He  is,  time  and  again,  asserted  to  have 
done,  I  ask  the  abettors  of  a  multifarious  influence  as- 
sisting them  in  the  exercise  of  their  natural  faculties, 
how,  by  what  means,  in  what  way  He  disclosed  and 
conveyed  to  them  such  new  thoughts,  doctrines,  pro- 
phesies? Would  any  stimulating  assistance  to  their 
memories,  imaginations,  and  understandings  suffice  in 
such  a  case,  and  raise  them,  as  some  affect  to  conceive, 
to  such  a  pitch  of  spiritual  intuition  as  to  enable  them 
to  discover  the  deep  things  of  God?  No,  say  others, 
this  was  revelation,  as  if  that  word  was  sufficiently  un- 
intelligible and  mysterious  to  cover  up  the  matter. 
But  others,  who  define  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures 
to  be  an  influence  of  assistance  to  men's  faculties, 
stultify  themselves  by  excepting  all  that  the  sacred 
writers  did  not  know  before — whole  books,  whole 
chapters,  paragraphs,  sentences,  clauses,  single  words — 
as  being  inspired  by  that  "  higher  and  more  genuine 
inspiration"  which  the  Scriptures  themselves  teach, 
and  which  Paul  expressly  defines.  But  if  the  Scrip- 
tures assert  that  genuine  inspiration  of  any  part  of  the 
Scriptures,  they  assert  it  of  the  whole  and  every  part 
of  them,  without  exception.  The  terms  which  they 
employ,  and  the  very  nature  of  that  genuine  inspira- 
tion, forbid  the  supposition  of  any  exception  in  any 
canonical  book. 

On  the  view  that  the  Logos  in  the  beginning,  the 

Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  Incarnate 

Word  of  the  New,  signified  one  and  the  same  Divine 

Mediatorial  Person,  the  Kevealer  of  God,  exercising 

5 


98  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW. 

at  every  period  of  the  sacred  narrative,  His  prophetic 
office,  the  peculiar  and  progressive  disclosures  of  the 
Scriptures  as  written  and  published  from  time  to  time, 
are  in  harmony  with  His  concurrent  and  His  ultimate 
objects,  and  suited  to  their  accomplishment.  As  an 
effect  of  the  apostasy,  and  of  the  deceitful  lures  and 
influences  of  the  god  of  this  world,  the  hearts  of  men 
were  alienated,  their  understandings  darkened,  their 
minds  blinded  to  all  spiritual  truths.  No  mere  manifes- 
tation of  the  Divine  perfections  in  the  works  of  crea- 
tion and  Providence,  nor  any  such  exhibitions  of  truths 
concerning  the  Divine  existence  and  perfections,  as 
constitute  what  is  called  natural  religion,  would  suffice 
to  restrain  the  corruptions  of  the  fallen  race,  and  to 
prevent  the  universal  reign  of  idolatry  and  wicked- 
ness ;  as  is  shown  by  the  history  of  all  the  nations,  to 
whom  such  manifestations  only  have  been  made. 
Personal  Manifestations  of  the  Eevealer  Himself  in 
the  relations  in  which  He  was  cognizable  and  conceiv- 
able by  men,  were  requisite ;  and  would  have  been 
requisite  indeed  had  there  been  no  apostasy,  and  were 
therefore  made  in  Eden,  prior  to  the  fall.  The  Infinite, 
Divine  Being — whether  as  a  Unity  or  as  a  Trinity — 
unconditioned  by  cognizable  relations  to  created  intelli- 
gences, would  have  been  incognizable  and  inconceiva- 
ble to  them.  The  Logos,  assuming  such  relations, 
manifested  Himself  in  them  to  the  observation,  intelli- 
gence, and  faith  of  men  and  angels,  in  His  works  of 
creation,  Providence  and  grace  under  various  aspects 
and  successive  dispensations;  and  especially  in  His 
redemptive  work,  as  Mediatorial  Prophet,  Priest  and 
King,  the  Personal  Image,  and  Rcvcalcr  of  the  Invisi- 
ble Divinity. 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  NEW.  99 

But  these  personal  relations  and  manifestations  were 
rendered  cognizable  by  men,  not  so  much  by  His  ex- 
ternal and  visible  acts,  as  by  His  vocal  utterances  of 
words  explanatory  of  His  acts,  prerogatives,  counsels, 
and  purposes,  and  of  their  relations,  obligations  and 
duties.  On  the  exercise  of  His  prophetic  office,  there- 
fore, the  disclosure  and  progress  of  the  system  depend- 
ed from  the  beginning ;  and  from  the  necessity  of  His 
verbal  disclosures  being  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
manifestations  of  His  invisible  acts,  we  may  with  cer- 
tainty infer  the  importance  of  every  word  uttered  by 
Him,  and  in  His  name  by  His  messengers — nay,  the 
absolute  necessity  that  His  thoughts  should  be  uttered 
by  them  in  His  own  words. 

The  original  doctrine  of  Satan,  which  he  proposed 
to  Eve,  was  pantheistic ;  Ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing 
good  and  evil.  Cain  and  his  followers  adhered  to  this 
teaching;  notwithstanding  the  manifestations  of  Divine 
omnipotence,  wisdom,  and  forecast  in  the  visible  works 
of  creation.  The  negation  of  that  blinding  and  de- 
structive heresy,  by  the  assertion  of  infallible  truth 
in  the  words  of  the  Logos,  as  Creator  of  matter  and  of 
all  things  out  of  nothing,  is  expressed  in  the  very  first 
sentence  of  recorded  Scripture ;  where,  from  the  nature 
of  the  subject,  and  the  object  of  the  declaration,  we 
are  bound  to  believe  that  the  words  employed  are  the 
very  words  of  God.  But  in  reality  there  is  the  same 
reason  why  all  the  other  words  of  Scripture  are  the 
very  words  of  God.  The  antagonism  of  Satan  did  not 
cease ;  nor  was  it  during  the  ages  of  idolatry  and  re- 
bellion on  the  part  of  the  chosen  people,  or  at  the 
assault  in  the  wilderness  on  the  second  Adam,  rebuked 
and  repelled  by  any  other  than  the  very  words  of  Gocl. 


100  THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE. 


YIII.  THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE,  AND  OF  A  DIS- 
TINCTION BETWEEN  KEVELATION  AND  INSPIRATION. 

It  is  among  the  remarkable  things  connected  with 
the  history  of  this  subject,  that  men  of  the  most  emi- 
nent character  for  learning,  and  personally  as  Christ- 
ian men,  who  believe  the  words  of  Scripture  through- 
out, to  be  the  infallible  words  of  God,  and  whose  faith 
and  hope  repose  on  them  as  such,  do  nevertheless  per- 
ceive no  difference — in  respect  to  their  being  His 
words — between  their  having  been  selected  by  the 
sacred  writers  under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit,  and  the 
very  words  themselves  having  been  imparted  to  the 
writers  ly  the  Spirit — imparted  in  a  manner  equivalent 
to  an  audible  vocal  articulation.  "Were  such  men  re- 
quired to  answer  the  question,  whether,  if  selected  by 
the  writers  without  the  supposed  guidance,  the  words 
of  the  sacred  text,  however  true,  appropriate,  and 
answerable  to  the  thoughts,  could  with  any  semblance 
of  propriety  be  called  the  words  of  God,  they  would, 
no  doubt,  at  once,  and  decidedly,  answer  in  the  nega- 
tive. And  on  the  other  hand,  if  asked,  whether  the 
very  words  being  conveyed  by  the  Spirit  to  the  minds 
of  the  sacred  writers,  would  not  determine  them  to  be 
literally  the  words  of  God,  they  would  as  readily  and 
decidedly  answer,  Yes.  What  then  is  really  effected 
by  the  alleged  guidance  ?  Suppose  a  sacred  writer  to 
know  with  perfect  accuracy,  a  fact  which  he  was  to 
narrate,  and  to  know  it  in  the  very  words  which  truly 
represented  it.  Would  a  supernatural  guidance  be 


THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE.         101 

necessary  in  that  case  to  determine  him  to  choose  the 
very  words  which  he  already  knew  as  truly  and  accu- 
rately representing  the  fact,  and  a  deviation  from 
•  which  would  to  his  intelligent  consciousness,  misrepre- 
sent it?  Suppose  it  to  be  a  fact  of  consciousness,  and 
that  he  .perfectly  understood  the  words  in  which  he 
was  conscious  of  it.  Surely  in  such  a  case  it  can  not 
be  said  that  lie  was  supernaturally  guided  to  choose 
the  words  of  which  he  was  already  conscious.  The 
utmost  that  could  be  pretended  in  such  a  case,  would 
be  that  he  was  restrained  from  choosing  words  con- 
trary to  his  knowledge,  and  his  consciousness,  and 
thereby  falling  into  error.  But  cases  of  this  sort  con- 
stitute a  large  part  of  what  is  written  in  Scripture,  of 
which  the  writers  had  previous  knowledge ;  with  refer- 
ence to  all  which  cases  it  is  obvious  that  the  writers 
having  previously,  and  perhaps  for  years,  been  con- 
scious of  the  right  words,  could  not,  when  they  came 
to  write  them  as  Holy  Scripture,  select  them  by  a 
supernatural  guidance ;  nor  could  such  guidance  add 
any  thing  to  the  words  to  render  them  more  true  or 
infallible  than  they  were  before  and  without  the  sup- 
posed guidance. 

It  being  an  admitted  and  undeniable  fact,  that  the 
words  recorded  by  the  sacred  writers,  were,  to  a  large 
extent — as  in  immediate  revelations,  predictions,  etc. 
-^-conveyed  to  the  writers  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  the 
alleged  guidance  is  asserted  only  of  those  historical  or 
other  facts  of  experience  and  observation  which  were 
previously  within  the  knowledge  of  the  writers.  Now 
assuming  this  statement  to  embrace  all  the  cases  in 
which  an  infallible  guidance  is  supposed,  I  think  it 


102  THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

safe  to  say  that  the  assertion  of  it  is  unscriptural,  un- 
necessary, inconceivable,  and  impossible. 

1.  The  assertion  of  an  infallible  guidance  of  the 
sacred  writers  in  the  selection  of  words  to  express  his- 
torical or  other  facts,  appears  to  me  to  be  unscriptural, 
in  the  sense  of  not  being  taught  in  Scripture,  and  of 
being  contrary  to  what  is  taught.     I  do  not  find  any 
such  doctrine  taught  in  the  Bible;    nor  have  I  met 
with  any  writer  on  the  subject  who  adduces  any  evi- 
dence, by  quotations  or  criticisms,  to  show  that  it  is 
taught  in  the  Bible.    It  is  propounded  by  Dr.  Whitby, 
and  nearly  every  writer  since,  as  an  hypothesis,  a  theory 
devised  to  obviate  certain  objections  and  difficulties  of 
matter  and  style.     It  is  called  a  theory  of  Inspiration, 
but  only  by  imposing  on  the  word  inspiration  a  sense 
different  from,  and  contrary  to  the  sense  which  that 
word  bears  in  Scripture ;  as  different  from,  and  con- 
trary to  that  sense,  as  an  act  which  conveys  thoughts 
from  one  mind  to  another  is  different  from  and  con- 
trary to  an  act  or  influence  which  terminates  on  the 
exercise  of  the  mind  in  thinking. 

2.  The  supposed  guidance  of  the  sacred  writers  is 
wholly  unnecessary  and  superfluous.   There  is  nothing 
in  the  nature  of  the  case  to  demand  it.     The  effect  re- 
quired is  fully  provided  for  by  the  Scripture  doctrine 
of  Inspiration,  which  teaches  that  what  the  sacred  pen- 
men wrote  was  conveyed  to  their  minds  by  the  in- 
breathing act  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     It  teaches  this  com- 
prehensively of  all  that  they  wrote  in  their  official 
capacity.     Most,  and  probably  all  writers  upon  the 
subject,  admit  and  hold  that  this  Scriptural  inspiration 
obtained  in  respect  to  revelations  and  whatever  was 


THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE.  103 

not  previously  known  to  the  writers.  The  Scriptures 
assert  it  indiscriminately  of  all  that  they  wrote.  It 
surely  is  as  competent  to  the  whole  as  to  any  part,  and 
it  can  not  be  pretended  that  there  is  any  more  difficulty 
in  conceiving  that,  out  of  all  the  things  previously 
known  to  a  prophet,  certain  particular  ones,  when  in 
the  discharge  of  his  office  he  sat  down  to  write,  should, 
by  the  inspiring  act  of  the  Spirit,  be  specially  and  viv- 
idly, and  exclusively  realized  to  his  consciousness,  to  be 
then  and  there  uttered  by  him  in  writing,  than  there 
is  in  conceiving  that  original  and  immediate  revelations 
should  be  so  realized  to  his  consciousness.  Another 
and  different  kind  of  supernatural  agency  in  the  case 
is  therefore  unnecessary.  Such  an  inspiration  is  as 
perfect  a  ground  of  infallibility,  in  respect  to  the  one 
portion  of  what  is  written,  as  in  respect  to  the  other 
portion ;  and  if  the  supposed  guidance  was  necessary 
to  render  the  one  portion  infallible,  then  the  portion 
which  was  inspired  without  guidance,  would  lack  the 
necessary  ground  of  infallibility. 

3.  The  supposed  guidance  appears  to  me  to  be  incon- 
ceivable and  impossible.  For  it  implies  that  the  sa- 
cred writers  were,  in  the  intelligent  exercise  of  their 
faculties,  guided  to  select  words  whereby  to  express 
thoughts  of  which  they  were  not  conscious,  which  is 
inconceivable  and  impossible.  For  if,  prior  to  the 
guidance,  they  were  conscious  of  the  thoughts,  they 
were  conscious  of  them  in  words.  They  could  not  be 
conscious  of  them  apart  from  words,  as  I  have  before 
abundantly  shown,  and  as  a  little  reflection  must  con- 
vince every  man  who  thinks.  And  if  it  be  said  that 
the  words  of  which  they  were  conscious  were  not  the 


104  THE  THEORY   OF  GUIDANCE. 

best,  the  most  correct  and  proper,  whereby  to  express 
the  thoughts,  and  that  perfect  and  infallible  truth  re- 
quired that  all  of  them,  or  some  of  them,  should  be 
exchanged  for  other  words,  then  I  submit  that  it  is  in- 
conceivable and  impossible  that  the  alleged  guidance 
should  enable  them  to  select  such  other  words.  For 
in  the  nature  of  the  case  the  words  of  which  they  were 
conscious  expressed  the  thoughts  to  their  intelligent 
consciousness,  and  if  a  change  of  the  words  for  others 
was  necessary,  a  change  of  the  thoughts  also  was 
equally  necessary.  For  if  the  new  words  did  not  act- 
ually modify  or  change  the  thoughts,  then  new  words 
could  not  be  requisite.  But  they  could  not  be  con- 
scious of  the  new  or  modified  thoughts,  till  they  were 
conscious  of  them  in  words,  and  therefore  they  could 
not  be  guided  intelligently  to  select  words  whereby  to 
express  them.  Inevitably  the  new  or  modified  thoughts 
must  be  conveyed  to  their  minds'  in  words  by  inspira- 
tion, in  order  to  their  becoming  conscious  of  them. 
They,  by  the  exercise  of  their  faculties,  guided  or  not 
guided,  could  no  more  conceive  the  new  thoughts,  or 
select  words  whereby  to  express  them,  than  they  could 
conceive  the  thoughts  contained  in  a  prediction,  and 
select  words  whereby  to  express  them. 

But  says  the  theorist :  All  those  things  in  Scripture 
which  the  writers  did  not  previously  know — all  the 
thoughts  of  which  they  were  not  previously  conscious 
— were  communicated  to  them  by  revelation ;  and  he 
assumes  that  they  were  or  might  be  communicated 
apart  from  and  independently  of  words,  so  that  the 
sacred  writer  having  the  thoughts,  partly  by  revela- 
tion, and  partly  by  his  own  experience  and  observa- 


THE  THEORY  OF   GUIDANCE.  105 

tion,  might  select  the  words  whereby  to  express  them, 
and  being  infallibly  guided  in  his  selection  by  the 
Spirit,  might  select  words  free  from  error,  and  infalli- 
bly true.  His  theory  is  contrary  alike  to  our  con- 
sciousness, and  to  the  teachings  of  Scripture.  It  is 
moreover  absurd  and  ridiculous  until  he  demonstrates : 
1.  That  men  are  conscious  of  thoughts  apart  from 
words,  and  may  receive  revelations  from  the  infinite 
intelligence  otherwise  than  in  words;  and  2d,  that 
such  supernatural  guiding  influence  was  actually  ex- 
erted on  the  intellectual  faculties  of  the  sacred  writers. 
The  first  he  never  can  demonstrate,  and  without  that, 
the  second  would  be  unnecessary  and  futile. 

If  it  be  said  that  Divine  power  might  enable  men  to 
select  words  whereby  to  express  thoughts  of  which 
they  were  not  conscious :  then  1.  Such  an  exercise  of 
Divine  power  would  not  be  an  act  of  guidance,  but  an 
act  of  creation ;  and  2,  it  would  not  be  consistent 
with  the  free  and  intelligent  exercise  of  men's  facul- 
ties, but  contrary  to  such  exercise,  and  in  itself  and 
its  effects  merely  mechanical.  Either,  therefore,  the 
thoughts  and  words  were  in  their  due  arrangement 
conveyed  to  the  sacred  writers  by  inspiration,  or  they 
uttered  in  writing  their  own  thoughts  and  words  with- 
out any  supernatural  assistance  of  any  kind. 

The  proposition  that  men  were  guided  in  making  a 
selection  of  words  to  express  thoughts  which  they 
were  already  conscious  of  in  words  which  expressed 
them  as  perfectly  as  they  conceived  them,  is  in  every 
respect  absurd.  For  either  it  assumes  that  they  se- 
lected the  very  same  words — which  would  be  no  se- 
lection;  or  that  they  selected  words  which  did  not 
5* 


106  THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

express  the  thoughts  in  conformity  to  their  conscious- 
ness, and  therefore  which  did  not  express  the  same 
thoughts.  To  say  that  they  selected  other  thoughts, 
and  also  selected  words  to  express  such  other  and  dif- 
ferent thoughts,  is  quite  another  proposition,  but  no 
less  absurd ;  for  they  could  not  be  conscious  of  the 
other  thoughts  apart  from  the  words  in  which  they 
conceived  them. 

I  therefore  object  to  that  distinction  between  Reve- 
lation and  Inspiration,  which  makes  Eevelation  the 
communication  of  truth,  and  Inspiration  the  guidance 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  which  its  subject  is  rendered 
infallible  in  the  communication  of  truth.  1.  I  find  no 
such  distinction  expressed  or  implied  in  the  Scriptures 
themselves.  I  know  of  no  Scripture  which  teaches 
that  some  portions  of  the  Bible  in  distinction  from 
others,  or  that  the  whole  of  it,  was  communicated  to 
the  writers  otherwise  than  by  Inspiration.  The  Scrip- 
tures themselves  declare  that  they  are  all  given  by 
Inspiration  of  God.  Paul  says  of  the  things  which 
were  communicated  to  him,  and  which  he  preached 
and  wrote,  that  "  God  hath  revealed  them  unto  us  by 
His  Spirit."  Various  Scriptures  assert  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  spake  by  the  mouth  of  prophets  and  by  David. 
Quotations  from  the  Old  Testament  assert  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  spake  the  passages  quoted :  as  Heb.  3  :  7, 
and  Acts  1  :  16. 

2.  The  words  translated  Inspiration  both  in  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  mean  the  same  as  the  phrase, 
breathed  into.  To  say  that  what  the  sacred  penmen 
wrote  was  given  to  them  by  Inspiration  of  God,  is  pre- 
cisely equivalent  to  saying  that  the  words  which  they 


THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE.  107 

uttered  in  writing  were  breathed  into  their  minds,  or 
conveyed  into  their  minds,  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  Now, 
since  it  was  absolutely  necessary  that  the  words  of 
original  Revelations  should  be  communicated  to  the 
sacred  penmen,  and  since  the  revelations  are  declared 
to  have  been  communicated  to  them  by  Inspiration,  it 
is  unscriptural  and  superfluous  to  make  a  distinction, 
as  though  Eevelations  were  communicated  in  some 
other  way  than  by  Inspiration. 

3.  The  Scriptures  every  where  teach  that  what  the 
sacred  penmen  uttered  in  writing  was  spoken  by  the 
Spirit.     It  was  what  He  said.     The  words  are  His 
words  as  being  spoken  to  them  by  Him,  and  uttered 
by  Him  through  their  instrumentality.     He  spoke  His 
own  words  by  their  mouths ;  uttered  His  own  words 
by  the  instrumentality  of  their  pens. 

4.  This  distinction  assumes  that  Inspiration  conveys 
nothing  whatever  of  thoughts  or  words  to  the  sacred 
penmen.     It  assigns  to  the  word  Inspiration  a  wholly 
different  sense,  namely,  that  of  guiding  them  in  their 
act  of  communicating  truth  to  the  world.     It  is  made 
to  signify  a  guiding  influence  on  the  faculties  of  the 
men,  making  them  infallible  in  their  act  in  announcing, 
uttering,  communicating  truth.     It  is  an  inspiration  of 
the  men,  not  a  conveyance  of  truth  to  them.     It  as- 
sumes that  they  had  already  in  their  minds,  by  some 
other  means  than  inspiration,  the  truths  which  they 
were  to  communicate  ;  and  that  all  they  further  needed 
was  a  guidance  in  the  selection  and  utterance  of  words. 
That  supposed  and  necessary  guidance  is  made  to  take 
the  place  of,  and  to  signify  all  that  is  signified  by  in- 
spiration ;  and  on  this  ground  Revelation  is   distin- 


108  THE   THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

guished  from  Inspiration;  as  though  the  Scriptures 
taught  us  nothing,  and  it  was  of  no  importance  to  us 
to  know  any  thing,  as  to  how,  in  what  manner,  by 
what  agency  revelations  were  communicated  to  the 
sacred  writers. 

5.  No  evidence  whatever  is  adduced  to  justify  call- 
ing guidance  inspiration.  No  evidence,  I  apprehend, 
can  possibly  be  adduced  from  the  Scriptures  them- 
selves. It  is  at  best  a  mere  theory,  founded  on  what 
is  supposed  to  be  necessary  in  the  case  —  necessary  to 
make  the  Scriptures  infallible.  It  being  assumed  that 
the  sacred  writers  selected  the  words  which  they  wrote, 
and  that  as  men  they  were  liable  to  err,  it  is  alleged 
that  they  were  infallibly  guided  in  the  exercise  of  their 
faculties  in  making  the  selection,  and  infallibly  pre- 
served from  error  in  writing.  But  it  is  not  proved  or 
even  attempted  to  be  proved  that  they  selected  the 
words.  On  the  contrary  it  is  expressly  asserted  that 
the  Scriptures,  that  is,  the  words  as  written,  were  given 
by  inspiration  of  God.  The  thoughts  are  not  Scrip- 
ture apart  from  the  words.  If  the  thoughts  were  given, 
the  words  must  have  been  given  with  them.  More- 
over, with  reference  to  large  portions  of  Scripture,  it  is 
allowed  by  all  that  the  words  must  have  been  com- 
municated to  the  writers.  But  if  they  were  communi- 
cated from  the  Divine  to  the  human  mind,  it  must 
have  been  either,  first  by  articulate  audible  utterances, 
or  second,  by  silent  conveyance  of  them  to  the  minds 
of  the  recipients  by  the  Almighty  and  Omniscient 
Spirit ;  and  since  they  certainly  were  not  all  spoken 
audibly,  it  follows  that  the  rest  must  have  been  con- 
veyed by  the  act  of  the  Spirit. 


THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE.  109 

But  says  the  objector,  "Why  not  admit  this  distinc- 
tion between  Kevelation  and  Inspiration  ?  Why  not 
adopt  the  hypothesis  that  inspiration  means  a  guidance 
of  the  writers  ?  If  they  were  infallibly  guided  in  their 
choice  of  words,  why  is  not  that  as  good  a  ground  of 
infallibility,  as  a  conveyance  to  them  of  the  very  words 
of  God  ?  What  semblance  of  difference  is  there  ?  I 
answer,  that  this  theory  of  guidance  is  mere  hypothesis, 
not  shown  to  have  any  foundation  in  fact,  not  shown 
to  be  necessary,  not  taught  in  Scripture.  Whereas, 
the  Scriptures  teach  that  the  very  words  of  God  were 
given,  and  therefore  were  infallible  as  being  His.  If 
the  words  were  given  by  inspiration,  then  the  writers, 
guided  or  not  guided,  did  not  select  them.  One  of 
these  views  is  true  and  the  other  not.  They  can  not 
both  be  true.  One  is  asserted  in  Scripture.  The 
other  is  a  speculative  theory.  That  which  is  asserted 
in  Scripture  presents  incontestable  proof  of  the  infalli- 
bility of  the  words.  The  hypothesis,  not  being  it- 
self established  upon  any  evidence,  can  afford  no 
proof  or  ground  of  infallibility.  It  is  therefore  to  be 
rejected.  It  leaves  it  as  an  open  question,  whether  or 
not  the  writers  were  infallibly  guided  in  selecting  the 
words  ?  It  affects  to  determine  the  ground  on  which 
the  Scriptures  are  to  be  received  as  the  infallible  word 
of  God,  not  on  the  testimony  of  Scripture,  but  on  a 
theory  of  man's  device.  And  if  one  may  safely  do 
this  under  the  notion  of  an  inspiration  of  infallible 
guidance,  another  —  since  there  is  not  a  word  in  Scrip- 
ture concerning  infallible  guidance — may  as  safely  do 
it,  under  the  notion  of  an  inspiration  of  Direction,  that 
is,  "such  assistance  as  left  the  writers  to  describe 


110  THE  THEORY  OF   GUIDANCE. 

things  in  their  own  way,  directing  only  the  mind  in 
the  exercise  of  its  powers ;"  another,  under  the  notion 
of  an  inspiration  of  Ekvation,  "  which  added  a  greater 
strength  and  vigor  to  the  efforts  of  the  mind,  than  the 
writers  could  otherwise  have  attained  ;"  another  under 
the  notion  of  an  inspiration  of  superiiitendency,  "which 
preserved  generally  from  any  thing  being  put  down 
derogatory  to  the  revelation  with  which  it  was  con- 
nected." The  Scriptures  say  nothing  and  know  no- 
thing of  either  of  these  kinds  of  inspiration.  They  are 
mere  fancies  of  men ;  and  the  difference  between  them 
and  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  inspiration,  is  the  differ- 
ence between  Scripture  and  hypothesis,  truth  and 
falsehood,  what  God  says  and  what  man  says,  I  can 
conceive  of  an  enlightened  and  good  man,  who  firmly 
believes  in  the  infallibility  of  the  Scriptures  as  the 
word  of  God ;  but  who,  in  his  feelings  and  medita- 
tions, has  so  long  and  familiarly  associated  that  belief 
with  the  idea  of  a  Divine  guidance  of  the  sacred 
writers,  in  the  selection  of  the  words  which  they 
wrote,  that  the  idea  seems  to  him  to  be  scriptural,  or 
consistent  with  Scripture ;  and,  as  his  faith  is  firm,  he 
can  not  see,  nor  easily  be  made  to  see,  that  such  guid- 
ance is  not  as  good  a  ground  of  faith  in  the  words, 
being  the  real  and  infallible  words  of  God,  as  would 
be  the  utterance  of  the  same  words  by  Him,  audibly 
or  by  inspiration,  into  the  minds  of  the  writers,  and 
through  their  instrumentality  to  the  world.  His  theo- 
ry of  guidance  seems  to  him  to  come  to  the  same 
result  as  the  doctrine  of  immediate  verbal  inspiration ; 
and  the  result  alone  appears  to  him  to  be  of  any  im- 
portance in  the  case. 


THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE.  Ill 

But  submit  to  the  same  man  a  parallel  case  where 
the  infallible  words  of  Scripture,  as  the  very  words  of 
God,  are  the  sole  ground  of  his  faith,  and  he  will  in- 
stantly start  back.  Take  the  doctrine  of  Justification 
by  faith,  and  suppose  him,  in  view  of  the  express 
verbal  statements  of  Scripture,  to  believe  justification 
to  be  "  an  act  of  God's  free  grace,  wherein  He  pardon- 
eth  all  our  sins,  and  accepteth  us  as  righteous  in  His 
sight,  only  for  the  righteousness  of  Christ  imputed  to 
us  and  received  by  faith  alone."  Now  suppose  a  friend 
should  say,  I  believe  in  justification  as  firmly  as  you, 
and  in  the  same  result,  namely,  salvation.  But  I  un- 
derstand by  justification,  not  an  act  of  God,  pardoning 
us,  and  imputing  to  us  the  righteousness  of  Christ  ; 
but  I  understand  by  that  word,  a  work  wrought  in  us 
and  making  us  righteous  —  sanctification  —  in  which 
our  own  agency  is  concerned,  and  to  which,  indeed, 
primarily,  our  active  agency  is  indispensable :  as  the 
active  agency  of  the  sacred  writers  in  the  selection  of 
the  words  which  they  wrote  was,  in  the  order  of  time, 
indispensable  before  they  were  guided  in  the  selection. 
They  could  not  be  guided  before  they  acted.  "We  can 
not  be  said  to  be  justified  till  we  are  personally  righteous 
and  holy,  which  we  are  not  till  we  are  sanctified.  Would 
he  not  instantly  and  earnestly  reply :  You  mistake  the 
matter.  You  have  an  erroneous  and  baseless  theory. 
Sanctification  is  not  justification.  You  deceive  your- 
self by  giving  it  that  name.  Justification  is  as  differ- 
ent from  sanctification  as  a  Divine  act  of  creation  is 
from  a  human  act  of  obedience.  It  is  purely  a  Divine 
act,  in  which  no  agency  of  man  is  exerted.  It  is  ex- 
pressly taught  to  be  such  in  the  words  of  Scripture. 


112  THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

Whereas,  your  theory  on  the  subject  is  neither  taught 
nor  implied  in  Scripture.  It  is  a  theory  invented  by 
man  to  exalt  and  flatter  himself  and  his  acts  in  the 
affair  of  salvation.  But,  rejoins  the  other,  why  object 
to  my  view  ?  It  comes  to  the  same  thing.  If  we  are 
sanctified  we  shall  be  saved,  and  that  is  the  end  de- 
sired. Can  there  be  any  better  ground  of  assurance  th  at 
we  shall  be  saved,  than  that  of  our  being  sanctified  ? 
What  difference  is  there  between  the  two  views? 
Answer :  the  one  view  is  according  to  the  teachings  of 
the  word  of  God :  the  other  is  contrary  to  those  teach- 
ings derogatory  to  the  Scriptures,  and  as  a  theory,  hy- 
pothetical and  absurd. 

The  Greek  word  translated  guide  occurs  five  times 
in  one  form,  and  five  times  in  another  form  in  the  New 
Testament.  Matt.  15  : 14 :  If  the  blind  had  the  blind- 
They  be  blind  leaders  of  the  blind.  Matt.  23  : 16,  and 
24  :  Woe*  unto  you,  ye  blind  guides.  .  .  .  Ye  blind 
guides  which  strain  at  a  gnat.  Luke  6  :  39:  Can  the 
blind  lead  the  blind  ?  Acts  1:16:  which  was  guide  to 
them  that  took  Jesus.  Kev.  7 : 17 :  and  shall  lead  them 
unto  living  fountains  of  waters.  Eom.  2  :  19  :  art  a 
guide  of  the  blind.  Acts  8 :  31 :  except  some  man 
should  guide  me.  And  John  16  :  13 :  He  will  guide 
you  into  all  the  truth. 

The  passages  which  relate  to  blind  guides,  and  the 
blind  leading  the  blind,  relate,  no  doubt,  to  guiding  by 
verbal  instruction.  The  same  is  true  of  Acts  8  : 31. 
The  Eunuch  was  reading  the  Prophet  Isaiah.  Philip 
said,  Understandest  thou  what  thou  readest  ?  And  he 
said,  How  can  I,  except  some  man  should  guide  me ; 
that  is,  teach  me,  explain  to  me.  "  Of  whom  speak- 


THE  THEORY   OF  GUIDANCE.  113 

eth  the  Prophet  this,  of  himself,  or  of  some  other 
man  ?"  He  understood  well  enough  the  words  that  he 
was  reading,  but  they  did  not  indicate  to  him  who  it 
was  that  should  be  led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter.  As 
to  that,  he  needed  a  further  disclosure ;  namely,  the 
verbal  instruction  which  Philip  was  sent  to  give  him. 
"The  Spirit  said  unto  Philip,  Go  near  and  join  thy- 
self to  this  chariot."  (Yerse  29.) 

There  are  some  remarkable  personal  references  in  this 
narrative  from  verse  26  to  verse  40,  which  throw  light 
on  our  view  of  the  prophetic  office.  Yerse  26 :  "  And 
the  angel  of  tfie  Lord  spake  unto  Philip,  saying,  Arise, 
and  go  toward  the  south,"  etc.  This  is  the  Old  Testa- 
ment designation  of  Jehovah  as  the  Messenger  of  the 
Father  —  the  Messenger  of  the  Covenant,  (Mai.  3,) 
the  Messenger  (angel)  Jehovah,  who  appeared  to 
the  Patriarchs,  and  to  Moses,  spoke  familiarly  to 
him,  gave  the  law  at  Sinai,  and  was  head  of  the 
theocratic  dispensation.  The  rationalistic  commenta- 
ries, which,  when  the  angel,  or  an  angel  is  said  to 
speak  to  a  man,  resolve  the  statement  into  an  inward 
impression  or  impulse  which  is  felt  by  the  subject,  but 
is  not  produced  by  any  external  personal  agent ;  and 
when  the  Spirit  is  said  to  speak,  as  in  verse  29,  deem 
the  statement  to  mean  nothing  more  than  an  inward 
suggestion  or  intuition,  are  unworthy  of  even  the  low- 
est degree  of  human  wisdom.  If  these  views  may  be 
adopted  in  the  present  and  other  cases  in  the  New 
Testament,  they  may  be  adopted  in  respect  to  all 
that  Moses  and  the  prophets  have  written,  and  all  pre- 
tense of  supernatural  acts  and  events  recorded  in  the 
Bible  may  at  once  be  given  up. 


114  THE  THEOKY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

The  plain  import  of  this  passage  is,  that  the  Messen- 
ger Jehovah  in  the  exercise  of  His  prophetic  office,  as 
in  earlier  periods,  spoke  to  Philip,  and  directed  him  to 
go,  in  his  official  character,  to  a  certain  place,  for  a 
special  service.  He  obeyed  this  verbal  direction ;  and 
being  about  to  exercise  his  office  as  preacher,  that  is, 
to  utter  such  words  as  the  Spirit  inspired  into  his  mind, 
put  into  his  mouth,  for  immediate  utterance,  he,  like 
others  of  his  time  who  spoke,  officially,  only  what  the 
Spirit  supplied  to  them  and  spoke  by  them,  was  thus 
committed  to  the  official  direction  and  control  of  the 
Spirit.  "  Then  the  Spirit  said  unto  Philip,  go  near, 
and  join  thyself  to  this  chariot,"  (v.  29.)  The  Eunuch 
asked  him  to  explain  as  to  what  person  it  was  to  whom 
the  Prophet  referred.  * '  Then  Philip-opened  his  mouth , 
and  began  at  the  same  Scripture,  and  preached  unto 
him  Jesus,"  (v.  25.)  Having  accomplished  the  specific 
service  on  which  he  was  sent,  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord," 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  sent  by  Christ  the  Messenger  of  the 
Father,  "  caught  away  Philip"  .  .  .  who  "  was  found  at 
Azotus  :  and  passing  through  he  preached  in  all  the 
cities,  till  he  came  to  Cesarea."  (Yerses  39^0.) 

The  only  other  passage  in  which  the  word  guide  oc- 
curs, as  specified  above,  is  John  16 : 13 :  "He  will  guide 
you  into  all  the  truth."  The  whole  passage,  and  the 
parallel  passages,  most  evidently  restrict  what  the  Spirit 
was  promised  and  commissioned  to  do  to  verbal  teach- 
ing, communicating  truth  verbally  to  the  apostles. 
Thus :  "  I  have  yet  many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but 
ye  can  not  bear  them  now.  Howbeit,  when  He,  the 
Spirit  of  truth,  is  come,  He  will  guide  you  into  all  the 
truth;  for  He  shall  not  speak  of  Himself;  but  whatso- 


THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE.  115 

ever  He  shall  hear,  that  shall  He  speak ;  and  He  will 
show  you  things  to  come.  He  shall  glorify  me ;  for 
He  shall  receive  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it  unto  you." 
(John  16 : 13-15.)  The  whole  of  this  clearly  relates  to 
communications  to  be  made  in  words,  as  by  speaking. 
The  import  of  the  passage  may  be  expressed  as  fol- 
lows :  Christ,  in  His  office  of  Prophet,  had  yet  many 
things  to  say  to  His  disciples.  But  the  time  had  not 
arrived  for  Him  to  say  them,  and  would  not  arrive  till 
after  His  ascension ;  so  that  He  could  not  directly  ex- 
ercise His  office  by  uttering  them.  But  He  would 
send  the  Spirit  as  His  Messenger  to  speak  them  in  His 
name,  and  to  glorify  Him  by  receiving  and  uttering 
only  what  He  gave  Him  to  communicate  to  them. 
Thus  He  would  guide  them  into  all  the  truth  by  speak- 
ing, verbally  teaching,  them  all  the  truth ;  as  Philip 
guided  the  eunuch  by  his  verbal  explanations.  With 
this  view  the  parallel  passages  agree :  "  The  Holy 
Ghost,  whom  the  Father  will  send  in  my  name,  He 
shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your 
remembrance,  whatsoever  /  have  said  unto  you" 
(14  : 26.)  "  But  when  the  Comforter  is  come,  whom  I 
will  send  unto  you  from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit 
of  Truth,  which  proceedeth  from  the  Father,  He  shall 
testify  of  me,"  (15  : 26.)  To  teach  is  to  communicate 
knowledge  verbally.  To  recall  what  has  been  said,  is 
to  recall  words  which  had  been  uttered.  To  testify  is 
to  utter  verbal  testimony. 

To  pretend  that  the  word  guide  in  the  passage  above 
quoted,  means  an  influence  of  the  Spirit  on  the  under- 
standings, memories,  or  other  faculties  of  the  sacred 
writers,  which  did  not  teach  and  communicate  to  them 


116  THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

the  very  words  they  were  to  write,  but  only  directed, 
guided  them  in  the  exercise  of  their  faculties  in  the 
selection  of  words  and  communicating  them  by  writ- 
ing, is  to  pervert  the  very  words  of  Christ,  and  in 
derogation  of  the  office  of  the  Spirit.  The  selection  of 
the  words  which  He  was  to  teach  and  utter  was  not 
delegated  even  to  Christ,  or  by  Him  to  the  Spirit. 
The  Spirit  was  not  commissioned  or  authorized  to 
speak  of  Himself,  that  is,  words  selected  by  Himself, 
but  only  the  words  which  He  received  from  Him  by 
whom  He  was  sent.  To  imagine  that  the  penmen  of 
Scripture  had  any  personal  agency  in  the  selection  of 
the  words,  is  to  exalt  them  above  the  Spirit,  and  above 
Christ,  to  an  official  equality  with  the  Father.  And 
as  to  the  idea  of  a  guidance  of  the  apostles  in  their 
selection  of  words,  there  is  not  a  hint  of  that  specialty 
in  the  passage  under  consideration.  If  there  is  any 
guidance  referred  to  different  from  direct  verbal  in- 
struction, it  is  a  guidance  into  all  the  truth,  abstractly 
and  apart  from  words.  If  the  theorizer  says  the 
guidance  relates  both  to  the  truth  and  the  words,  he 
says  what  the  text  does  not  say. 

The  Saviour,  providing  for  the  execution  of  His 
prophetic  office,  through  the  official  agency  of  the 
Spirit,  and  through  the  subordinate  official  agency  of 
the  apostles,  says  in  His  address  to  the  Father,  John 
17 :  "  And  now  I  come  to  Thee,  and  these  things  I 
speak  in  the  world,  that  they  might  have  my  joy  ful- 
filled in  themselves.  I  have  given  them  Thy  word. 
....  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth.  As  thou  hast 
sent  me  into  the  world,  even  so  have  I  sent  them  into 
the  world."  The  official  relation  of  the  apostles  to 


THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE.  117 

Christ,  as  delegated  by  Him  to  titter  His  words  as 
they  should  be  communicated  to  them  by  the  Spirit, 
was  probably  as  well  understood  by  them  and  by  the 
Church  in  their  times,  as  any  fact  relating  to  Christ- 
ianity. It  was  not  necessary  to  repeat  or  to  reaffirm  it. 
All  that  was  necessary  was  to  assert,  and  occasionally 
to  give  miraculous  evidence  that  they  were  apostles. 
But  during  the  first  age,  Christ  Himself  in  the  exer- 
cise of  His  prophetic  office  through  subordinate  hu- 
man agents,  was  not  confined  exclusively  to  the 
apostles ;  as  under  the  Old  Testament  He  was  not 
confined  to  those  prophets  who  were  sacred  writers. 
And  as  this  consideration  strikingly  corroborates  the 
foregoing  view  concerning  His  prophetic  office,  I  shall 
refer  to  some  instances. 

"  And  in  those  days  came  prophets  from  Jerusalem 
unto  Antioch,"  where  Paul  then  was.  "And  there 
stood  up  one  of  them  named  Agabus,  and  signified  by 
the  Spirit  that  there  should  be  great  dearth  throughout 
the  world ;  which  came  to  pass  in  the  days  of  Claudius 
Caesar."  (Acts  11 :  28.)  At  a  later  period,  when  Paul 
was  at  Cesarea,  the  same  prophet  came  there.  "And 
he  took  Paul's  girdle,  and  bound  his  own  hands  and 
feet,  and  said,  Thus  saith  the  Holy  Ghost,  So  shall  the 
Jews  at  Jerusalem  bind  the  man  that  owneth  this  gir- 
dle, and  shall  deliver  him  into  the  hands  of  the  Gen- 
tiles."  (Acts  21 : 11.)  On  this  it  may  be  observed :  that 
in  the  exercise  of  his  office  the  utterance  of  Agabus  is 
expressly  said  to  be  the  utterance  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  expression,  "Thus  saith  the  Holy  Ghost,"  is 
equivalent  to  "Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  in  the  Old 
Testament.  Through  this  man  as  His  instrument,  the 


118  THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

Spirit  spoke  certain  words,  lie  concurrently,  and  freely 
exercising  his  vocal  organs,  in  articulating  the  words. 

There  were  in  the  Church  at  Antioch  certain  pro- 
phets and  teachers,  among  whom  were  Barnabas  and 
Saul.  "  As  they  ministered  to  the  Lord,  and  fasted, 
the  Holy  Ghost  said,  Separate  me  Barnabas  and  Saul, 
for  the  work  whereunto  I  have  called  them." 

Paul,  on  his  way  from  Miletus  to  Jerusalem,  landed 
at  Tyre.  "And  finding  disciples,  we  tarried  there 
seven  days  ;  who  said  to  Paul  through  the  Spirit,  that 
he  should  not  go  up  to  Jerusalem."  (Acts  21 : 4.)  In 
cases  like  this,  it  would  seem  that  the  words  uttered 
by  the  Spirit  were  audible  to  all  the  persons  present ; 
whether  uttered  through  the  instrumentality  of  the 
vocal  organs  of  men  or  not.  The  plain  inference  from 
such  cases,  is,  that  Christ  exercised  His  prophetic 
office  either  by  audible  utterances  of  the  Spirit  as  His 
immediate  Messenger,  or  by  the  agency  of  the  Spirit 
through  men  as  His  instruments ;  and  that  in  particu- 
lar cases,  the  Spirit,  instead  of  speaking  directly  to 
the  apostles,  or  to  them  through  their  own  vocal  or- 
gans, spoke  audibly  to  them  in  common  with  others, 
or  through  the  instrumentality  of  others.  In  either 
case,  and  in  all  cases,  in  which  the  Spirit  is  said  to 
speak,  the  articulation  and  utterance  of  words  is  signi- 
fied, and  it  is  no  less  certain  that  He  spoke  only  the 
words  of  Christ  which  He  was  sent  to  utter. 

The  main  difficulty  with  many  of  the  excellent  men 
who  have  adopted,  under  the  name  of  Inspiration,  a 
supposed  influence  exerted  in  different  degrees  on  the 
minds  of  the  sacred  writers,  is  that  of  conceiving  why 
those  things  which  were  previously  within  the  know- 


THE  THEOKY  OF  GUIDANCE.  119 

ledge  of  the  writers,  should  need  to  be  inspired  into 
their  minds — realized  to  their  consciousness,  specially 
by  a  divine  act,  when  they  were  called  to  write  them 
as  parts  of  Holy  Scripture.  It  seems  to  them,  that  all 
that  could  be  necessary  in  such  a  case,  was,  that  what 
they  so  wrote  should  be  true,  without  mixture  of  error. 
And  since  such  portions  of  the  sacred  writings  are,  in 
conjunction  with  the  rest,  called  the  Word  of  God, 
they  conceive  that  a  Divine  influence  must  have  been 
exerted  on  the  faculties,  preserving  them  from  error, 
and  as  some  believe,  guiding  them  in  the  choice  of 
thoughts  and  words.  This  inference,  from  the  nature 
and  necessity  of  the  case,  is  strengthened,  in  theii 
view,  by  the  fact  that  the  individuality  of  the  writers, 
their  respective  peculiarities  of  style  and  manner,  are 
manifest  in  what  they  wrote ;  which  is  regarded  ai 
clearly  implying  that  they  wrote  purely  of  their  own 
free  will,  in  their  own  natural  way,  as  knowing  it  al 
ready  and  being  conscious  of  its  truth. 

Now  let  it  be  observed,  1st.  That  since  the  Scrip 
tures  largely  consist  of  the  kind  of  matter  referred  to, 
and  since  it  is  intimately  intermingled  with  original 
revelations,  prophecies,  doctrines,  and  facts  previously 
unknown,  we  must  undoubtedly  conclude  that  the  Di- 
vine Author  of  the  original  Revelations,  saw  fit,  re- 
quired, determined,  that  the  historical  and  personal  nar- 
ratives and  other  things  referred  to  as  previously  known, 
should  be  inserted  in  the  writings  which  were  to  be 
received  as  His  word,  and  the  rule  of  faith  and  life. 
2d.  That  the  matter  so  required  and  inserted,  shows 
to  what  extent,  and  in  what  manner,  the  Divine  Law- 
giver, and  Author  of  the  original  Revelations,  saw  it 


120  THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

to  be  necessary — to  the  instruction  of  mankind,  and 
the  perfect  administration  of  His  government,  and  the 
accomplishment  of  His  purposes  of  mercy  and  justice 
— to  connect  the  revelations,  doctrines,  precepts,  etc., 
which  He  gave  and  enjoined,  with  the  agency  and  ex- 
perience of  contemporary  individuals,  families,  and 
nations,  and  with  human  nature  in  like  particulars  and 
like  circumstances,  in  all  subsequent  time.  3d.  That 
this  object  made  it  absolutely  necessary  that  the  his- 
tory and  experience  of  the  parties  referred  to,  their 
acts,  their  thoughts,  feelings,  purposes,  desires,  hopes, 
joys,  griefs,  should  be  expressed  in  the  very  words 
which  they  employed  to  express  them,  which  perfectly 
conveyed  their  meaning,  and  with  which  both  they 
and  the  sacred  writers  were  perfectly  familiar  in  the 
style  which  they  respectively  employed.  'No  other 
words  or  style  could  possibly  have  expressed  exactly 
and  perfectly  the  facts  and  expressions  referred  to,  at 
the  different  times,  and  by  the  penmen  who  at  those 
times  wrote  successive  portions  of  the  Scriptures. 
4th.  That  this  being  granted,  it  is  apparent  why  the 
Divine  Author — having  determined  what  should  be 
included  in  the  Scriptures,  and  that  they  should  all  be 
uttered  on  His  authority  as  His  infallible  word — should 
specifically  inspire  into  the  minds  of  the  writers,  the 
very  words  which  they  and  their  immediate  contem- 
poraries would  employ  and  did  employ  to  narrate  the 
same  personal,  social,  and  other  facts  of  their  experi- 
ence. And  because  the  writers  and  their  readers  un- 
derstood the  words  and  style  which  were  in  common 
use  to  express  all  personal  and  social  facts,  relations, 
and  beliefs — all  that  they  previously  knew — it  was 


THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE.  121 

absolutely  necessary  to  their  understandings,  that  the 
supernatural  revelations  should  be  communicated  in 
the  same  familiar  words  and  styles :  and  accordingly 
they  were  so  revealed,  and  are  so  expressed,  in  words 
in  common  use,  and  in  styles,  phrases,  idioms,  as  pecu- 
liar to  the  respective  writers,  as  are  the  narrative  and 
historical  parts  of  Scripture. 

Here  then  is  an  intelligible  and  an  ample  reason  why 
both  the  historical  parts  of  Scripture,  and  the  super- 
natural revelations,  should  be  expressly  inspired  into 
the  minds  of  the  writers  in  the  words  and  styles  in 
common  use  ;  and  if  all  the  contents  of  the  Scriptures 
were  predetermined  to  be  included  in  them  by  Him 
who  seeth  the  end  from  the  beginning,  that  they  might 
all  be  equally  of  His  authority,  His  word,  the  rule  of 
faith  and  life,  then  any  objection  either  to  the  words 
and  styles  employed,  or  to  their  having  been  inspired 
into  the  minds  of  the  sacred  penmen,  expressly  to  be 
written  as  they  are,  is  wholly  without  sense  or  reason. 
If  there  could  be  any  valid  objection  to  the  convey- 
ance  by  inspiration  of  the  historical  parts  of  Scripture, 
on  account  of  their  being  written  in  the  familiar  words 
and  styles  of  man,  the  same  objection  would  be 
equally  valid  against  the  conveyance  in  that  way  of  the 
supernatural  facts  and  doctrines.  There  they  are,  the 
supernatural  and  the  natural,  inseparably  commingled 
together,  each  being  essential  to  the  intelligibility  of 
the  other,  and  both  expressed  in  similar  words  and 
styles.  The  portions  previously  known  to  the  writers, 
stand  in  a  relation  to  the  supernatural  portions,  which 
their  being  true  and  free  from  error,  fulfills  only  in 
part.  They  are  true  and  free  from  error ;  but  in  the 

6 


122  THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

place  which  they  occupy  they  are  more  than  that. 
The  Divine  "Wisdom  predetermined  that  they  should 
be  there  written  in  the  words  and  styles  in  which  they 
were  true  to  the  apprehension  and  understanding  of 
the  writers  and  readers,  and  that  they  should  be  there 
as  part  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  as4  His  Word,  written 
on  His  infallible  authority. 

Now  in  view  of  the  facts  of  the  case — that  the 
Scriptures,  promiscuously,  are  written  in  the  familiar 
words  and  styles  of  the  writers  ;  that  they  are,  never- 
theless, collectively,  the  word  of  God ;  that  they  ex- 
pressly affirm  of  themselves,  that  they  were  given  by 
inspiration  of  God,  written  in  the  words  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  spake  by  the  prophets,  and  taught  the 
apostles ;  and  that  they  are,  as  written,  of  infallible, 
Divine  authority — it  is  plain  that  the  objectors'  mode 
of  accounting  for  the  results,  is  wholly  inadequate,  as 
well  as  unscriptural  and  unnecessary.  At  best,  the 
supposed  influence  on  the  faculties  of  the  writers,  were 
such  an  influence  admitted,  could  do  no  more  than 
preserve  the  writers  from  error,  which  is  far  short  of 
what  the  case  required.  It  would  be  merely  a  negative 
or  restraining  influence.  It  would  not  invest  the  truths 
recorded  with  Divine  authority,  and  make  them  infalli- 
ble, the  word  of  God,  in  distinction  from  all  other 
truths  of  human  history  and  experience,  which  are 
not  written  as  parts  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  And  if 
the  objector  goes  farther,  and  imagines  that  the  sup- 
posed influence  on  the  faculties  of  the  writers,  selected 
out  of  all  that  were  previously  known  to  them,  the 
particular  truths  which  they  were  to  write,  and  the  very 
words  and  styles  which  they  were  to  employ,  then  it 


THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE.  123 

may  be  observed :  1.  That  the  supposed  influence  on 
their  faculties,  superintending,  elevating,  or  guiding 
their  exercise  of  them,  could  not  produce  those  results. 
It  would  require  a  wholly  different  influence,  an  influ- 
ence which,  instead  of  affecting  their  exercise  of  their 
own  faculties,  conveyed  new  intelligence,  new  thoughts 
and  words,  to  them — intelligence  as  to  which  of  all 
the  truths  known  to  them,  they  should  write,  and  which 
they  should  omit — intelligence  therefore  which  they 
could  not  have  possessed  before,  and  could  not  have 
discovered  or  infallibly  deduced,  by  any  exercise  of 
their  faculties — and  intelligence  as  to  which  of  all  the 
words  in  their  vocabulary  they  should  select  to  express 
infallibly  the  particular  truths  they  were  to  record ;  a 
point  which,  equally  with  the  selection  of  the  particu- 
lar truths,  omniscience  only  could  infallibly  determine. 
2d.  If  this  supposed  influence  conveyed  such  new  in- 
telligence, new  thoughts  and  words,  unknown  to  the 
sacred  writers  before,  and  undiscoverable  by  them, 
then  it  was  not  what  is  pretended,  an  influence  re- 
straining or  directing  the  exercise  of  the  human  facul- 
ties, but  iheopneustos,  the  inbreathing,  inspiring  act  of 
God,  conveying  the  requisite  intelligence,  the  particu- 
lar truths,  the  particular  thoughts,  the  particular  words 
which  they  were  to  write,  as  His  Word,  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  the  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  life. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  he  who  admits  that  a  Divine 
influence  was  necessary  to  preserve  the  sacred  writers 
from  error,  must  admit  that  no  conceivable  influence 
on  their  faculties,  superintending  or  guiding  their  exer- 
cise, could  accomplish  what  the  case  required ;  and 
that  an  influence  which  conveyed  into  their  minds  the 


124  THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

very  thoughts  and  words  they  were  to  write,  was  in- 
dispensable ;  which  is  Inspiration,  in  the  sense  of 
Scripture. 

In  what  respect  it  can  be  any  easier  to  conceive  why 
a  Divine  influence  of  guidance  should  be  necessary,  in 
the  case  of  things  previously  known  to  the  writers, 
than  to  conceive  why  those  things  should  be  immedi- 
ately inspired  into  their  minds,  is  by  no  means  appar- 
ent; nor  is  it  apparent  bow  an  influence  could  be 
exerted,  which  preserved  from  error,  but  left  the  mat- 
ter, the  words,  and  the  styles,  just  as  they  are,  natural 
and  peculiar  to  the  writers.  The  difficulty  and  objec- 
tion relate,  however,  in  fact,  to  the  words  and  styles 
themselves,  as  they  actually  exist  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  not  in  any  degree  to  the  question  whether  the 
writers  previously  knew  the  things  which  they  wrote, 
or  to  the  reasons  why  they  wrote  in  their  accustomed 
words  and  styles. 

To  one  who  has  a  clear  conviction  that  the  Bible  is 
God's  Book,  wherein  He  has  made  an  infallible  and 
permanent  declaration  of  Himself,  of  His  acts,  of  His 
relations,  of  His  purposes,  for  all  the  future  ages  and 
dispensations,  and  so  manifested  Himself  as  to  be  con- 
ceivable and  cognizable  to  man  and  to  all  finite  intelli- 
gences, the  pretended  distinction  between  revelation 
and  inspiration  must  appear  to  be  preposterous  and 
absurd.  For  who  does  not  know  that  this  wondrous 
catena  of  communications  is  delivered  in  the  simple 
and  homogeneous  form  of  narrative  and  history  ;  where- 
in superhuman  truths,  and  facts  of  human  experience, 
are  as  intimately  associated,  commingled,  and  merged 
together,  as  if  there  were  no  distinction  between  them. 


THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE.  125 

They  are  in  fact  inseparable,  and  involve  each  other. 
The  narrative  assumes  and  is  the  vehicle  of  the  doc- 
trines ;  and  but  for  that  could  never  have  existed.  To 
suppose  that  one  part  of  the  matter  of  successive  chap- 
ters, paragraphs,  verses,  was  communicated  to  the 
sacred  writers  by  one  operation  of  Divine  agency,  and 
the  other  part  by  another,  operation  ;  or  that  the  one 
portion  was  communicated  to  them  disconnected  from 
the  other,  and  that  the  other  portion  was  supplied  by 
them,  or  was  received  in  a  way  to  have  the  slightest 
dependence  on  their  agency,  either  in  attaining  it,  or 
in  combining  the  two  portions  in  one  homogeneous 
composition,  is  as  preposterous  as  it  would  be  to  sup- 
pose of  a  history  of  Greece  or  Eome,  that  all  the  details 
of  it  which  related  and  owed  their  coloring  and  influ- 
ence to  the  system  of  government  and  of  idolatry,  and 
to  the  character  and  acts  of  the  civil,  military,  and 
priestly  functionaries,  were  written  by  one  man,  and 
that  the  other  details  relating  to  the  private  lives,  and 
social  customs  of  the  people,  and  mixed  up  in  every 
sentence  with  the  former,  were  written  separately  by 
another  man  :  or  to  suppose  that  all  the  words  required 
to  express  both  of  these  kinds  of  details,  were  written 
separately  on  slips  of  paper,  and  so  shaken  up  together 
as  to  adjust  themselves  in  the  regular  and  finished 
composition.  Nay,  this  is  but  a  faint  illustration  of 
the  preposterousness  and  absurdity  of  the  notion  re- 
ferred to.  For  in  such  history  of  Greece  or  Rome  all 
the  details  are  merely  human,  finite,  and  within  the 
observation  and  comprehension  of  a  historian.  Where- 
as, in  the  Bible,  a  large  portion  of  the  details  are 
superhuman,  not  within  man's  observation  or  previous 


126  THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

knowledge,  and  required  to  be  adjusted  consistently, 
harmoniously,  perfectly,  in  composition,  with  the  facts 
and  details  of  human  experience,  and  temporal,  social, 
and  civil  affairs  of  individuals,  families,  and  nations. 
To  assign  this  task  of  composition  in  any  the  remotest 
degree  to  human  agency  and  skill,  is  to  assign  to  such 
agency  what  no  conceivable  miracle  could  bring  about, 
namely,  plenary  knowledge  or  omniscience. 

The  Bible  is  one  Book.  It  has  one  object:  the 
revelation  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  man.  To  this 
its  details  converge  and  its  history  relates.  On  the 
one  hand  its  Divine  Author  manifests  Himself  Person- 
ally, visibly,  historically ;  acting,  speaking,  determin- 
ing. On  the  other,  as  the  details  and  issues  have  to  do 
with  man,  his  character,  relations,  and  agencies,  his 
sentiments,  affections,  and  emotions,  are  mixed  up,  as 
warp  and  woof,  with  the  superhuman  events,  doctrines, 
predictions,  precepts,  promises,  exhortations,  and  com- 
minations ;  mixed  up  just  so  far,  and  in  such  pro- 
portions from  time  to  time,  as  Infinite  Wisdom  saw 
fit.  In  its  relation  to  man,  it  is  not  a  general  history 
of  different  nations,  nor  a  secular  history  of  the  one 
peculiar  people,  except  as  they  were  in  immediate  re- 
lation with  the  covenant  people,  the  redeemed  Church 
of  God,  His  family,  His  household,  His  liege  subjects, 
His  witnesses,  the  subjects  of  His  immediate  discipline, 
and  the  depositories  of  His  written  word,  for  their  own 
instruction  and  rule  of  faith  and  life,  and  ultimately 
for  all  kindreds  and  peoples  who  shall  be  reclaimed 
and  brought  under  the  bond  of  His  covenant.  The 
scope,  design,  and  tendency  of  it  therefore,  as  a  whole, 
and  in  all  its  details,  are  moral  and  spiritual.  The  in- 


THE  THEORY  OF  GUIDANCE.  127 

fluence  of  every  sentiment,  and  every  word  of  it,  is 
fraught  with  moral  and  spiritual  bearings  and  issues 
on  the  minds  and  hearts,  and  in  the  lives  and  doctrines 
of  men.  From  beginning  to  end,  its  Author  and  Ke- 
vealer  is  the  same,  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  First 
and  the  Last ;  and  He  is  finally  to  judge,  and  to  acquit 
or  condemn  each  individual,  according  to  the  words 
which  He  has  caused  to  be  written. 

To  suppose  such  a  book,  involving  in  every  part, 
not  only  the  wisdom  and  goodness,  but  the  holiness, 
righteousness,  justice,  and  truth  of  God,  to  have  de- 
pended in  any  tittle  of  its  contents  or  its  composition, 
on  the  will,  the  understanding,  the  imagination,  or 
the  memory  of  man,  is  to  misconceive,  or  to  forget,  its 
Author,  its  nature,  and  its  object. 

If  there  are  in  Germany,  or  elsewhere,  hyper-tran- 
scendentalists,  or  idealistic  intuitionalists,  who  can 
conceive  of  poetry  apart  from  poetical  language  and 
imagery  ;  of  prediction  apart  from  prescience — the  fu- 
ture by  spiritual  retrospection ;  of  history  independ- 
ently of  past  events  ;  of  revelations  without  a  revealer ; 
of  thoughts  without  words,  they  must  be  left  to  enjoy 
their  delirious  hallucination  in  their  own  peculiar  way. 
But  men  who  believe  concerning  God,  that  He  fore- 
ordained whatsoever  comes  to  pass ;  and  that  the 
Scriptures  are,  in  matter  and  form,  in  contents  and 
composition,  in  thoughts  and  words,  idiom  and  style, 
just  what  He  willed  them  to  be,  as  the  rule  of  His  ad- 
ministration, and  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  life  to  man, 
can  not  intelligently  believe  that  one  part  of  them,  any 
more  than  all  the  other  parts,  were  communicated  to 
the  sacred  writers  or  attained  by  them,  otherwise  than 


128  THE  THEOEY  OF  GUIDANCE. 

in  the  very  words  and  sentences  prearranged  and 
composed,  as  they  were  written  in  the  original 
texts. 

What  our  condition,  as  rational  and  as  fallen  crea- 
tures, requires  for  us,  is  a  standard  of  truth,  a  fixed,  in- 
fallible criterion.  Such  a  standard  must  be  out  of  and 
independent  of  ourselves,  and  preexistent  to  our  wants. 
Such  a  standard  is  the  word  of  God,  as  given  in  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  Not  a  part 
of  those  Scriptures :  not  one  part  to  one  man,  and  an- 
other part  of  them  to  other  men ;  but  the  whole  of 
them,  according  to  their  verbal  significance,  purport, 
and  design,  for  every  man,  the  word  of  God,  and 
therefore  the  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  life.  If  human 
reason,  speculation,  theory,  may  sit  in  judgment  on 
the  question,  may  select  some  of  those  writings  as  the 
word  of  God,  and  may  reject  others  as  of  human  au- 
thorship, knowledge,  will,  or  discretion,  then  they  are 
no  standard  in  the  sense,  and  to  the  effect  that  our 
exigencies,  and  our  immortal  hopes  and  destiny  de- 
mand. They  are  but  a  nose  of  wax  for  each  theorist 
to  wrest  conformably  to  the  devices  and  desires  of  his 
own  heart.  All  that  we  can  possibly  know  of  any 
doctrine,  precept,  promise,  instruction,  we  know  by 
the  words  in  which  it  is  expressed  in  the  texts  of 
Scripture.  If  the  words  were  given  by  Inspiration  of 
God,  then  they  constitute  an  infallible  standard  of  faith 
and  life.  If  they  were  not  so  given,  and  all  of  them, 
their  infallibility  can  not  be  maintained. 


THE  EELATIVE  AND  FINITE.  129 


IX.  THE  RELATIVE  AND  FINITE  ONLY  CONCEIVABLE 
BY  THE  HUMAN  MIND  —  SIR  WILLIAM  HAMIL- 
TON'S DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CONDITIONED — RELATIVE, 
LIMITED. 

One  of  the  most  striking  facts  which  is  exhibited  in 
the  history  of  the  human  race,  is  that  of  the  absence 
from  the  minds  of  whole  nations,  from  age  to  age,  of 
any  just  apprehensions  of  the  Supreme  Being ;  any 
notions  or  beliefs  transcending  those  which  they  enter- 
tain of  creatures ;  and  which  they  express  in  the  lan- 
guage and  the  rites  of  idolatry.  A  parallel  fact,  no 
less  conspicuous  in  history,  is  that  no  portion  of  the  in- 
dividuals of  the  race,  or  of  any  particular  nation,  has 
ever  attained  just  notions  and  beliefs  concerning  God, 
and  His  works,  otherwise  than  from  His  own  infallible 
words.  From  these  facts  it  is  obvious  to  infer  that 
there  is  an  inherent  difficulty  in  the  case,  which  no- 
thing but  the  words  of  God  can  supersede.  This  dif- 
ficulty may,  in  some  respects,  be  aggravated  by  the 
moral  depravity  and  blindness  of  men  as  fallen  crea- 
tures ;  but  it  exists  primarily  in  the  chasm  between 
the  infinite  and  the  finite.  The  Infinite  Being,  uncon- 
ditioned by  relations,  acts,  and  expressions,  within  the 
observation  and  conscious  apprehension  of  men,  is  to 
them,  because  they  are  creatures,  utterly  inconceivable. 
To  suppose  the  contrary  would  be  to  suppose  man  to 
be  the  equal  of  his  Creator,  and  to  have  the  same 
knowledge  and  the  same  consciousness.  The  Logos, 
therefore,  manifested  such  relations,  acts,  and  verbal 
expressions  in  Eden,  before  man  fell ;  manifested  His 
6* 


130  THE  RELATIVE  AND  FINITE. 

Personality  and  His  attributes  in  such  relations,  and 
under  such  limitations,  as  to  be  conceivable  and  know- 
able  by  man  with  his  limited  capacity  of  thought.  It 
is  in  those  relations,  as  described  in  the  words  of  God, 
that  we  apprehend  Him.  Beyond  that,  His  words 
which  assert  His  mode  of  self-existence,  His  infinite 
perfections,  His  eternal  counsels  and  purposes,  reveal 
Him  not  to  our  intellectual  comprehension,  but  to  our 
faith  only. 

Hence  the  absolute  necessity  and  absolute  import- 
ance of  the  words  of  God,  in  correlation  with  all  His 
personal  and  visible  manifestations  and  works  ;  and  of 
their  being  as  truly  His  words  uttered  by  Him,  as  that 
the  attributes  and  works  which  they  describe  should 
be  truly  His.  And  accordingly  the  progress  of  His 
written  word  coincided  with  that  of  the  manifestation 
of  His  relations  in  His  works  of  providence  and  grace. 
The  Logos  in  the  beginning,  and  from  time  to  time, 
appearing  visibly,  signalizing  His  presence  by  His 
acts,  speaking  audibly,  and  accompanying  His  words 
by  exertions  of  His  power  in  the  production  of  visible 
effects,  manifested  His  Personality  and  His  Divine  at- 
tributes in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  cognizable  to  man : 
but  to  all  intelligent  and  correct  apprehensions  and 
constructions,  His  words  were  as  essential  as  His 
works.  "Without  them,  Adam  and  the  patriarchs 
would  have  been  as  far  from  rightly  construing  His 
works  as  manifesting  His  Divine  nature,  attributes,  and 
relations,  as  the  pagan  nations  have  ever  been.  This 
necessity  of  words,  as  explanatory  of  external  exist- 
ences and  relations,  and  as  the  medium  and  vehicle 
of  thought  —  of  the  conception,  reception,  conscious- 


THE  RELATIVE  AND  FINITE.  131 

ness,  and  memory  of  thought  —  is  common  to  all  cre- 
ated minds,  inasmuch,  as  in  all  the  capacity  of  thought 
is  limited.  This  necessity  is  the  same  to  angels  and  to 
men ;  and  therefore,  the  joint  manifestation  in  works 
and  words  —  commenced  at  the  dawn  of  man's  exist- 
ence, and  continued  through  successive  dispensations 
—  would  seem  to  have  been  as  really  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  one  as  of  the  other  class  of  minds.  What 
relation  this  may  have  had  to  the  apostasy  of  Satan 
and  his  confederates,  may  be  further  removed  from 
our  comprehension  than  its  relation  to  the  fall  of  man. 
But  the  relation  to  the  knowledge  and  the  agencies  of 
the  holy  angels,  of  this  joint  manifestation  of  works 
and  words,  might  easily  be  traced  in  all  that  is  revealed 
to  us,  concerning  their  ministries  towards  the  heirs  of 
salvation,  and  towards  the  sacred  writers,  and  jointly 
with  the  triumphant  Church  in  the  doxologies  and 
praises  of  heaven ;  and  concerning  their  agencies  to- 
wards the  Logos,  both  before  and  after  His  incarna- 
tion. From  these  disclosures  it  is  at  least  reasonable 
to  infer  that  they  attained  their  knowledge  of  His  per- 
sonality, His  attributes  and  relations,  His  offices,  dele- 
gated agency,  works,  and  words,  in  the  same  way,  and 
by  the  same  manifestations,  as  man.  So  far,  at  least, 
as  is  known  to  us,  no  similar  manifestations  have  been 
exhibited  elsewhere  than  upon  this  earth ;  and  with- 
out them  neither  angels  nor  men  could  attain  any  true 
notions  or  beliefs  concerning  the  Logos,  or  concerning 
the  invisible,  the  infinite,  the  incomprehensible  Deity. 
I  may  confirm  these  views  by  a  reference  to  the 
writings  of  the  late  Sir  William  Hamilton,  the  most 
able,  the  most  scriptural,  and  most  reliable  and  de- 


132  THE  RELATIVE   AND  FINITE. 

monstrative  of  those  who  have  endeavored  to  elucidate 
the  operations  and  the  limitations  of  the  human  mind. 
I  quote  from  his  chapter  on  the  Philosophy  of  the 
Conditioned.  His  nomenclature  can  hardly  be  familiar 
to  most  readers;  and  if,  by  necessarily  omitting 
many  qualifying  or  explanatory  clauses  I  somewhat 
impair  the  fullness  of  his  meaning,  I  hope  nevertheless, 
in  general,  to  exhibit  it  correctly. 

He  means  by  the  conditioned,  existencies,  or  objects, 
which  have,  and  are  contemplated  as  having  relations 
to  other  existencies  or  objects,  and,  as  limited  thereby, 
being  conceivable  and  cognizable  by  the  limited 
capacity  of  man.  On  the  other  hand,  by  the  uncon- 
ditioned is  meant  that  which  in  its  nature  is  infinite, 
and  without  limitation  in  space,  time,  ox  degree;  and  his 
doctrine,  as  being  that  of  the  consciousness  of  all  men, 
is,  that  the  conditioned  and  limited,  but  not  the  uncon- 
ditioned, is  cognizable  and  conceivable  by  the  finite 
mind  of  man. 

"The  mind  can  conceive,  and  consequently  can 
know  only  the  limited  and  the  conditionally  limited. 
The  unconditionally  unlimited,  or  the  Infinite,  the  un- 
conditionally limited,  or  the  Absolute,  can  not  positively 
be  construed  to  the  mind ;  they  can  be  conceived  only 
by  a  thinking  away  from,  or  abstraction  of,  those  very 
conditions  under  which  thought  itself  is  realized ;  con- 
sequently the  notion  of  the  unconditioned  is  only  neg- 
ative— negative  of  the  conceivable  itself.  ....  The 
result  is  the  same,  whether  we  apply  the  process  to 
limitations  in  space,  in  time,  or  in  degree.  .  .  .  The  infi- 
nite and  the  absolute  are  equally  inconceivable  to  us. 
...  As  the  conditioned  [related,  limited]  is  the  only 


THE   RELATIVE  AND  FINITE.  133 

possible  object  of  knowledge  and  of  positive  thought 
— thought  necessarily  supposes  conditions.  To  think 
is  to  condition,  and  conditional  limitation  is  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  possibility  of  thought.  .  .  .  The 
mind  can  not  transcend  that  sphere  of  limitation,  with- 
in and  through  which  exclusively  the  possibility  of 
thought  is  realized.  Thought  is  only  of  the  condi- 
tioned ;  because,  as  we  have  said,  to  think  is  simply  to 
condition.  The  absolute  is  conceived  merely  by  a  ne- 
gation of  conceivability ;  and  all  that  we  know,  is  only 
known  as  c  won  from  the  void  and  formless  infinite.'1 
How  indeed  it  could  ever  be  doubted  that  thought  is 
only  of  the  conditioned,  may  well  be  deemed  a  matter 
of  the  profoundest  admiration.  Thought  can  not  tran- 
scend consciousness ;  consciousness  is  only  possible  un- 
der the  antithesis  of  a  subject  and  object  of  thought, 
known  only  in  correlation,  and  mutually  limiting  each 
other  ;  while,  independently  of  this,  all  that  we  know, 
either  of  subject  or  object,  either  of  mind  or  matter,  is 
only  a  knowledge  in  each  of  the  particular,  of  the 
plural,  of  the  different,  of  the  modified,  of  the  phe- 
nomenal, .  .  .  "We  can  never,  in  our  highest  generali- 
zations, rise  above  the  finite ;  our  knowledge,  whether 
of  mind  or  matter,  can  be  nothing  more  than  a  know- 
ledge of  the  relative  manifestations  of  an  existence, 
which  in  itself  it  is  our  highest  wisdom  to  recognize  as 
beyond  the  reach  of  philosophy.  .  .  .  We  are  thus 
taught  the  salutary  lesson,  that  the  capacity  of  thought 
is  not  to  be  constituted  into  the  measure  of  existence, 
and  are  warned  from  recognizing  the  domain  of  our 
knowledge  as  necessarily  coextensive  with  the  horizon 
of  our  faith.  And  by  a  wonderful  revelation,  we  are 


134  THE  RELATIVE  AND  FINITE. 

thus,  in  the  very  consciousness  of  our  inability  to  con- 
ceive aught  above  the  relative  and  finite,  inspired  with 
a  belief  in  the  existence  of  something  unconditioned 
beyond  the  sphere  of  all  comprehensible  reality." 

Here  then  we  have  in  the  constitution,  the  limited 
capacity  of  thought,  and  the  universal  consciousness 
of  man,  a  clue  to  the  reason  why  both  the  thoughts 
and  words  of  Scripture  were  given  by  the  Creator 
Himself;  and  why  they  were  given  at  such  tunes,  un- 
der such  circumstances,  in  such  connections  with  ex- 
ternal works  and  events,  in  such  connections  with 
human  history,  experience,  agency,  and  discipline,  and 
in  language  and  idiom  adapted  to  man's  capacity. 
Thought  is  conceivable  only  of  the  finite,  the  limited. 
Thought  can  not  transcend  consciousness.  We  are 
conscious  of  thought  only  in  words.  But  the  Scrip- 
tures have  to  do  with  man's  relations  to  what  is  above 
his  capacity,  the  invisible,  the  spiritual,  the  infinite. 
"  The  Scriptures  principally  teach  what  man  is  to  be- 
lieve, concerning  God,  and  what  duties  He  requires  of 
him ;"  in  respect  to  neither  of  which  has  he,  in  him- 
self, the  slightest  degree  of  competency ;  nor,  with  re- 
spect to  either,  can  he  be  instructed  or  have  any  con- 
scious knowledge,  without  the  instrumentality  of 
words.  But  every  sentence  of  Scripture — in  itself, 
its  connection  with  other  sentences,  or  its  necessary 
implications  of  doctrines,  duties,  moral  relations,  or 
spiritual  affections — implies  a  knowledge  on  the  part 
of  its  Author,  of  which  man  is  wholly  incapable,  an 
all-comprehensive  knowledge  of  existencies  not  lim- 
ited, and  of  all  the  relations,  connections,  bearings, 
influences  of  things  spiritual  and  eternal,  Divine  and 
human. 


THE  EEL  ATI  VE  AND  FINITE.  185 

Now  all  the  manifestations  of  the  Logos  were  con- 
ditioned, that  is,  relative  and  finite,  and  therefore  cog- 
nizable and  conceivable  as  objects  of  thought  in 
correlation  with  the  words  which  He  uttered  in 
announcing  and  describing  them.  The  superhuman, 
so  limited,  was  thus  brought  within  the  sphere  of  finite 
apprehension,  while  His  words  concerning  the  uncon- 
ditioned— the  Infinite,  the  Absolute — are  intelligible 
and  sufficient  as  a  basis  and  guide  of  our  faith ;  just 
as  in  respect  to  our  faith  in  the  existence  of  matter. 
The  relative  manifestations  of  the  particular  qualities 
of  matter,  are  within  our  capacity  of  thought  and  know- 
ledge, in  correlation  with  the  words  in  which  we  think 
them.  The  qualities  only  are  manifested — but  as  man- 
ifested, they  irresistibly  infer  a  correlate  as  their  basis 
— that  of  which  they  are  qualities,  conditions,  limita- 
tions, which  we  call  matter,  and  in  which  we  have  as 
firm  a  faith  as  we  have  in  the  qualities,  but  of  which 
in  itself  we  know  nothing. 

From  the  very  commencement  of  His  delegated 
work,  the  titles  and  acts  of  the  Divine  Eevealer  are 
significant  of  relations  and  limitations  within  our 
capacity  of  knowledge :  His  titles ;  as  the  Son  of  God, 
The  "Word,  the  Image,  the  Messenger,  the  Anointed, 
the  Mediator,  the  Prophet,  Priest,  King,  Eedeemer, 
Saviour :  His  acts  ;  of  speaking,  commanding,  forbid- 
ding, prescribing,  predicting,  promising;  of  seeing, 
hearing,  appearing  visibly,  controlling  and  producing 
visible  effects  on  physical  natures,  not  to  specify  others 
involving  superhuman  knowledge  and  power,  or  to 
particularize  those  in  which,  as  after  His  literal  incar- 
nation, the  exercise  of  His  hands,  feet,  eyes,  and  other 


136  THE  KELATIVE  AND  FINITE. 

human  organs,  is  asserted  of  Him.  It  was  in  these 
manifestations  that  He  was  conceivable,  cognizable, 
knowable,  by  men  and  angels,  as  Divine,  as  delegated, 
as  one  Person  in  two  distinct  natures,  as  Prophet, 
Priest,  and  King  —  Eevealer  of  God  in  works  and 
words — the  conditioned  propounding  the  uncondi- 
tioned to  our  faith.  For  the  correlate  of  a  /Son  is  a 
Father ;  of  a  word,  the  thought  expressed  by  it ;  of  an 
image,  an  original;  of  a  Messenger,  an  official  Superior. 
So  the  correlate  of  Divinity  manifested  under  such 
conditions  and  limitations,  is  the  Divine  nature  infinite, 
unconditioned.  A  knowledge  of  the  conditioned, 
necessitates  a  spontaneous  faith  in  the  unconditioned. 

I  hence  observe — 

1st.  That  all  the  manifestations  of  the  Logos  were 
prescribed,  I  may  say,  necessarily  prescribed ;  since,  in 
acts  and  words,  they  are  the  basis  and  prerequisite  con- 
dition, of  our  faith  in  the  unconditioned,  the  infinite 
nature  and  attributes  of  the  Divine  Being.  They 
could  not  possibly  owe  their  existence  to  any  finite  in- 
telligence. 

2d  That  the  words  of  Scripture,  which  directly  or 
indirectly,  all  relate  to  those  manifestations,  were  in- 
cluded in  what  was  prescribed ;  since  they  are,  as  much 
as  the  acts,  the  basis,  and  prerequisite  condition  of  our 
faith. 

3d.  That  in  the  Scriptures,  however,  there  is  no 
ground  of  discrimination,  no  line  drawn  between  what 
relates  to  the  conditioned,  relative,  limited,  and  the 
verbal  statements  which  evolve  and  connect  with  the 
former  our  faith  in  the  unconditioned. 

4th.  If,  therefore,  the  Scriptures  are  the  rule  of  our 


THE  RELATIVE  AND   FINITE.  137 

faith  in  the  Person,  the  acts  and  the  words  of  the 
Logos ;  in  what  He  has  revealed  concerning  the  Per- 
sonal relations,  offices,  and  acts  of  the  three  Persons  of 
the  Godhead ;  and  in  what  we  believe  concerning  the 
infinity  and  eternity  of  the  Divine  Being,  which  are 
incognizable  and  inconceivable  to  our  finite  capacity, 
it  is  as  incredible,  nay,  as  impossible,  that  any  word  of 
Scripture,  written  and  published  on  the  authority  of 
God,  should  in  any  sense  have  originated  with  man,  or 
depended  on  his  knowledge  or  his  will,  as  it  is  that  he 
should  be  the  originator  and  author  of  the  rule  of  his 
own  faith,  and  that  of  angelic  or  other  created  intel- 
ligences. 

5.  This  conclusion  derives  point  and  emphasis  from 
the  consideration,  that  the  words  which  constitute  the 
historical  parts  of  Scripture,  and  which  alone  can  by  any 
one  be  supposed  to  have  been  supplied  by  man,  were 
at  least,  in  general,  uttered  in  immediate  connection 
with  the  manifestation  of  Divine  acts  to  which  they 
relate,  and  which  they  describe — as  in  the  narrative  of 
the  plagues  of  Egypt  and  the  entire  record  of  the  Ex- 
odus, the  sojourn  in  the  wilderness,  the  conquest  of 
Canaan,  the  story  of  the  Judges  and  of  the  Kings  of 
Israel  and  Judah,  the  four  Gospels,  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  He,  therefore,  who  selected  the  words  must 
have  comprehended  the  acts  with  infallible  accuracy, 
their  conditions,  relations,  limitations,  designs,  ten- 
dencies, and  possible  influences  and  issues ;  since  the 
words  define  and  describe  the  acts,  in  their  due  con- 
nection with  Divine  and  human  agencies,  and  with 
spiritual  and  secular  results. 

The  mind  can  not  conceive,  and  therefore  can  not 


138  THE   RELATIVE  AND   FINITE. 

know  the  Infinite  ;  and  for  the  reason  that  infinity  is 
unconditioned — not  relative,  not  limited.  The  entire 
category  of  divine  manifestations  therefore,  consists  of 
finite  particulars,  addressed  to  the  limited  capacity — 
the  observation,  the  wisdom,  the  hearing,  the  under- 
standing of  man,  so  as  to  be  cognizable  and  conceiv- 
able by  him.  But  the  Scriptures  which  record  those 
manifestations,  and  the  words  of  Scripture  which  as- 
sert the  infinity  in  nature  and  attributes  of  the  Divine 
Being,  are  the  original  and  only  real  ground  of  faith. 
He  who  believes  the  Scriptures  in  both  these  relations, 
believes  in  the  infinity  of  the  Divine  Being  and  Per- 
fections, and  in  the  distinction  of  Persons  in  the  God- 
head, their  official  relations,  the  delegated  mission  of 
the  Son  and  of  the  Spirit,  arid  the  entire  series  of  man- 
ifestations ascribed  to  them.  Of  these,  the  manifesta- 
tions in  words  are  no  less  exclusively  theirs  than  those 
exhibited  in  acts ;  and  no  tittle  of  the  words,  any 
more  than  of  the  acts,  can  be  ascribed  to  man.  To- 
wards the  unconditioned — the  Infinite  One,  he  simply 
exercises  faith.  Of  the  respective  Persons  as  revealed 
and  manifested  in  their  relations,  acts,  and  words,  he 
has  both  knowledge  and  faith.  They  are  revealed  in 
such  acts  and  relations  as  to  be  cognizable  and  con- 
ceivable to  him — acts  and  relations  which  do  not  tran- 
scend his  capacity  of  thought  and  knowledge — acts  of 
reciprocal  intelligence — relations  of  mutual  sympathy 
and  fellowship.  His  fellowship  is  with  the  Father,  and 
with  the  Son,  through  the  indwelling  influence  of  the 
Spirit.  The  love  of  God  the  Father,  the  grace  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  communion  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  are  realized  to  him.  He  knows  God  as  He  has 


THE   RELATIVE  AND  FINITE.  139 

revealed  Himself.  He  worships  the  Father  through 
the  mediating  Son,  by  the  aids  of  the  Spirit.  But  in 
all  this,  and  in  all  his  acts  of  worship  and  obedience, 
the  Word  of  God  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  is,  exclu- 
sively, his  rule  of  faith  and  life ;  and  to  it,  as  such,  he 
has  in  himself  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  by  whose  in- 
spiration it  was  given  to  the  sacred  penmen. 

Of  this  doctrine  of  the  conditioned,  I  may  observe : 
1.  That  it  is  wholly  incontrovertible  by  argument. 
He  who  attempts  to  controvert  it,  must  of  necessity  be- 
gin by  assuming  that  there  is  no  difference  or  distinc- 
tion between  the  infinite  and  the  finite;  and  must 
argue  that  to  conceive  and  know  the  finite  is  the  same 
as  to  conceive  and  know  the  infinite.  This  is  the  es- 
sence of  pantheism ;  but  it  is  mere  assumption,  fancy, 
delusion,  unsupported  by  reason,  and  contrary  to 
universal  consciousness.  2.  That  this  doctrine  is  the 
uniform  deliverance  of  every  man's  consciousness,  in 
harmony  with  all  the  facts  of  his  experience  and  ob- 
servation, and  with  every  thing,  doctrinal  and  histo- 
rical, that  is  recorded  in  the  Scriptures.  To  say  that 
man  is  not  God,  but  a  creature  ;  not  infinite,  but  finite ; 
is  to  say  that  his  capacity  of  thought,  of  understand- 
ing, of  knowledge,  is  finite,  limited ;  and  that  he  is  by 
the  constitution  and  condition  of  his  being  as  incapable 
of  conceiving,  comprehending,  knowing,  the  infinite, 
as  the  infinite  transcends  and  exceeds  the  finite.  3. 
This  doctrine,  so  palpably  prerequisite,  presupposed, 
and  essential,  to  any  true  knowledge  of  God  or  of  our- 
selves— any  true  knowledge  of  what  is  revealed  and 
enjoined  in  the  Scriptures,  or  true  faith  in  what  is  as- 
serted of  the  unrevealed,  the  infinite,  the  uncondition- 


140  THE  RELATIVE  AND  FINITE. 

ed — any  true  knowledge  of  ourselves  as  rational  and 
accountable  creatures  ;  of  our  relations  to  one  another, 
to  the  past,  and  to  the  future  ;  of  our  relations  to  God 
and  to  the  system  of  faith  and  obedience  which  He  has 
prescribed  in  His  Word,  rests  ultimately  on  the  consti- 
tution which  God  has  given  us  as  creatures,  and  is  tes- 
tified by  our'  consciousness  in  harmony  with  the  Scrip- 
tures. We  can  no  more  evade,  suppress,  or  rid 
ourselves  of  it  than  we  can  divest  ourselves  of  our  in- 
tellectual and  moral  nature ;  and  being  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  the  Scriptures  and  with  all  our  experience, 
its  authority  is  unquestionable  and  irresistible. 

Now  I  conceive  that  the  doctrine  which  I  have  en- 
deavored to  establish  in  a  former  volume — that  by  our 
constitution  as  intellectual  and  rational  beings,  we 
think  in  words,  and  can  not  exercise  our  capacity  of 
thought  otherwise  than  by  silent  or  vocal  articula- 
tions, which  represent  and  realize  our  thoughts  to  our 
own  consciousness  as  perfectly  as  we  conceive  them ; 
that  we  receive  the  thoughts  of  other  minds  only  in 
their  spoken  or  written  words,  and  in  signs  equivalent 
to  vocal  articulations ;  and  that  we  are  conscious  of, 
remember,  and  express  our  thoughts  only  in  words 
and  equivalent  signs ;  and,  therefore,  that  the  thoughts 
of  the  Divine  mind  conveyed  to  the  sacred  writers  by 
inspiration,  were  necessarily  conveyed  in  words,  in  or- 
der to  their  being  consciously  received  and  realized  to 
the  understanding  and  consciousness  of  the  recipients, 
consistently  with  their  constitution  and  with  the  nat- 
ural exercise  of  their  faculties — is  in  some  respects,  at 
least,  analogous  to  the  foregoing  doctrine  of  the  condi- 
tioned, and  like  that,  as  being  in  harmony  with  Scrip- 


THE   RELATIVE  AND  FINITE.  141 

ture,  and  resting  ultimately  on  the  constitution  and 
consciousness  of  man,  is  of  like  authority ;  and  I  there- 
fore urge  it  as  being  essential  to  any  right  knowledge 
of  the  nature,  extent,  and  effect  of  Divine  Inspiration, 
and  of  the  authority  and  infallibility  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. If,  as  the  consciousness  of  all  men  testifies,  we 
think,  receive  thoughts  from  others,  and  are  conscious 
of  thoughts  only  in  words,  then,  to  teach  that  any 
thoughts  of  the  Divine  mind  were  communicated  to 
the  sacred  writers  without  and  independently  of  words, 
is  to  teach  that  man  may  know  and  be  conscious  of 
those  thoughts  independently  of  words,  and  contrary 
to,  and  independently  of,  his  constitution  and  the  nat- 
ural exercise  of  his  faculties,  which  is  to  make  him 
more  than  man,  more  than  limited,  more  than  finite. 
If  that  was  of  the  nature  of  Inspiration,  then  such 
things  in  Scripture  as  were  previously  known  to  the 
writers,  must  be  excluded  from  it ;  for  they  must  have 
been  conscious  of  those  things  in  words.  But  if  all 
Scripture  was  given  by  Inspiration  of  God,  and  if  it 
was  of  the  nature  of  Inspiration  to  convey  both 
thoughts  and  words,  then  it  would  be  as  rational  to  im- 
pute that  which  constitutes  a  Scripture  miracle  to  the 
human  messenger  whose  instrumentality  was  employed 
in  the  manifestation  of  it,  as  to  impute  any  word  writ 
ten  and  published  as  the  word  of  God,  to  the  human 
messenger  whose  mouth  or  pen  was  employed  in  ut- 
tering it. 

It  is  therefore  on  the  basis  of  what  the  Scriptures 
expressly  teach  concerning  their  Inspiration,  and  of 
the  facts  respecting  man's  constitution  and  experience 
— that  thought  is  possible  only  of  the  conditioned,  the 


142  PLENARY  VERBAL   INSPIRATION. 

limited,  the  finite;  that  thought  can  not  transcend 
consciousness,  and  that  man  can  receive  and  be  con- 
scious of  thoughts  only  in  words — that  I  rest  the  doc- 
trine of  the  plenary  verbal  Inspiration  of  the  original 
texts  of  Holy  Scripture. 


X.  THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  PLENARY 
VERBAL  INSPIRATION. 

All  that  we  know  or  conceive  of  the  Divine  Being, 
of  His  mode  of  existence,  and  of  His  attributes,  is  de- 
rived from  the  words  of  Scripture.  Those  words, 
therefore,  must  be  His  words ;  for  otherwise  than  by 
receiving  them  from  Him,  the  sacred  writers  could  not 
conceive  the  thoughts  which  they  express. 

All  that  we  know  of  His  ways  of  manifesting  Him- 
self to  creatures,  and  all  that  we  know  of  spiritual 
existences  and  the  invisible  world,  is  taught  in  those 
words,  which  therefore  must  be  His. 

All  that  we  know  or  can  know,  of  His  objects,  pur- 
poses, and  ends,  in  the  works  of  creation  and  Provi- 
dence, is  contained  in  those  words,  which  are  therefore 
His  words. 

All  that  we  know  of  His  method  of  redeeming, 
pardoning,  sanctifying,  and  saving  men,  is  taught  in 
those  words,  and  therefore  they  are  His. 

All  that  we  know  of  His  physical  and  moral  gov- 
ernment of  the  world,  is  taught  in  those  words ;  and 
all  that  we  know  of  man's  relations  to  Him,  of  man's 
apostasy,  his  obligations,  his  moral  and  religious  du- 
ties, his  rule  of  faith  and  life,  his  resurrection,  his  fu- 


PLENARY  VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  143 

ture  existence,  and  his  destiny,  is  communicated  in 
those  words. 

But  under  these  heads  all  the  words  of  Scripture 
are  comprised,  either  by  their  direct  reference,  by 
necessary  implication,  or  by  their  moral  and  historical 
connections  and  relations.  And  in  the  relations  in 
which  they  are  used  they  are  so  connected  and  in- 
volved with  superhuman,  invisible,  and  spiritual  exist- 
ences and  realities,  which  are  wholly  beyond  the 
limited  capacity  of  man  to  discover  or  comprehend,  as 
to  preclude  the  supposition  that  he  had  any  agency 
whatever  in  the  selection  of  them,  and  to  enforce  the 
conclusion  that  they  are,  from  first  to  last,  the  words 
of  God,  selected  and  prescribed  by  His  omniscient 
wisdom.  They  accordingly  comprise  all  that  He  has 
seen  fit  to  have  recorded  for  the  permanent  instruction 
of  the  Church  and  the  world,  all  the  verbal  revelations 
which  He  has  made  concerning  Himself,  all  that  man  is 
to  believe  concerning  Him,  and  the  duties  He  requires 
of  man,  the  only  and  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  life. 

We  thus  have  a  glimpse  of  their  importance  in  the 
economy  and  administration  of  the  Creator  and  Ruler 
of  the  world ;  of  their  connection  with  the  knowledge, 
faith,  obedience,  and  salvation  of  men ;  and  of  the 
necessity  of  their  being  communicated  to  all  the  indi- 
viduals of  the  race,  and  of  their  enduring  forever  as 
the  criterion,  and  in  vindication  of  all  the  issues  of  the 
system.  The  place  which  they  occupy  in  the  economy 
of  providence  and  grace,  in  the  manifestations  of 
righteousness,  in  the  administration  and  the  issues  of 
moral  government,  bespeaks  their  transcendent  import- 
ance to  the  glory  of  Grod,  and  all  that  relates  to  man 


144  PLENARY  VERBAL  INSPIRATION. 

in  time  and  in  eternity.  And  hence  it  is  apparent, 
why  He  who  projected  and  who  administers  this  won- 
drous system,  caused  His  own  words  to  be  recorded 
and  published  as  His  authoritative  and  infallible  pro- 
clamation to  the  world — to  men  and  angels — and  why 
His  official  messengers,  in  the  execution  of  this  work, 
were  restricted  to  the  utterance  of  the  words  which  He 
prescribed. 

In  view  of  what  the  Scriptures  declare,  we  have 
faith  in  the  being  and  attributes  of  the  Infinite  One, 
as  existing  in  a  threefold  personality  in  one  essence 
and  will,  prior  to  all  external  works.  And  since  the 
fact  is  revealed  in  Scripture,  we  can  conceive  that, 
with  reference  to  an  external  universe  to  be  brought 
into  existence,  the  three  coequal  Persons  entered  into  a 
mutual  covenant  concerning  all  the  details  of  such 
universe ;  and  with  reference  to  the  actual  execution 
of  the  works  of  creation,  providence,  and  grace,  as- 
sumed relations  towards  each  other,  and  towards  every 
particular  of  those  works.  But  as  those  relations  with 
creatures  involved  a  condescension  of  the  Infinite  to 
the  conditions  and  limitations  of  the  finite,  it  is  mani- 
fest why  a  subordination  of  the  personal  executors 
and  administrators  of  the  system — that  is,  of  the  Son 
to  the  Father,  and  of  the  Spirit  to  the  Father  and  the 
Son — was  requisite. 

To  bring  the  Infinite  within  the  conditions  and  lim- 
itations of  the  finite,  so  as  to  be  conceivable  and 
knowable  by  the  finite  capacity  of  man,  was,  so  to 
speak,  the  problem  to  be  solved.  Hence,  those  cha- 
racteristics of  the  system  which  are  most  within  the 
apprehension  and  observation  of  intelligent  creatures, 


PLENARY   VERBAL   INSPIRATION.  145 

the  countless  variety,  animate  and  inanimate,  vast  and 
minute,  in  tlie  works  of  creation ;  the  tokens  of  infi- 
nite intelligence,  wisdom  and  goodness  in  the  peculiari- 
ties and  relations  of  all  the  diversified  forms  of  life, 
and  the  modes  of  material  existence ;  the  types  of 
form,  order  and  dependence  in  different  classes  of  the 
animal  and  vegetable  creation;  the  phenomena  of  light 
and  vision,  of  sound  and  hearing,  of  sensation  and 
consciousness.  And  hence  also,  the  peculiarities  and 
relations  of  men  as  a  bodied  race  of  creatures;  and  the 
provision  in  that  form  for  a  personal  incarnation  of  the 
Infinite  in  immediate  relation  with  the  finite,  in  sym- 
pathy and  fellowship  with  man  as  a  creature,  with  his 
limited  capacity  of  thought,  with  his  mode  of  con- 
ceiving, being  conscious  of,  and  expressing  thoughts 
in  words. 

The  Second  Person  of  the  Trinity  assuming  His 
subordinate  relations  as  Legate  and  Eevealer,  the  Lo- 
gos in  the  beginning,  in  whom  was  life,  and  all  power 
for  the  execution  01  His  works,  created  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  as  the  scene,  and  all  creatures  as  sub- 
jects and  instruments  of  His  manifestations.  But  in 
none  of  the  particulars  of  those  manifestations,  is  there 
any  thing  more  indispensable  to  their  being  rightly 
construed  and  understood,  or  more  important  there- 
fore to  the  effectual  accomplishment  of  their  object, 
than  the  words  of  their  author,  which  He,  as  perfectly 
comprehending  His  own  works  in  all  their  relations 
and  issues,  caused  to  be  recorded.  That  He  should 
have  needed  assistance,  or  should  have  employed  the 
agency  or  instrumentality  of  man,  in  the  selection  of 
those  words — man,  who  was  as  incapable  of  knowing 

7 


146  PLENARY  VERBAL  INSPIRATION. 

the  thoughts  to  be  expressed  before  the  words  were 
imparted  to  him,  as  of  performing  the  works  to  which 
they  relate — is  as  incredible  as  that  both  the  works 
and  words  were  merely  human.  Without  the  words, 
we  are  without  the  means  of  knowing  what  has  been 
manifested  and  enjoined;  and  unless  they  are  the 
words  of  God,  they  can  not  be  an  infallible  rule  to  us. 

The  Holy  Scriptures,  though  recorded  as  they  were 
given  by  inspiration  at  successive  periods,  constitute 
one  book,  and  comprise  all  that  their  Divine  Author 
saw  fit  to  communicate  to  be  written  in  His  name,  for 
the  permanent  use  of  the  Church  and  the  world.  But  it 
by  no  means  follows  that  the  portions  written  prior  to 
the  days  of  David,  or  to  those  of  Malachi,  comprise  all 
the  truths  or  doctrines  which  had  been  previously  re- 
vealed, and  had  entered  into  the  faith  and  life  of  the 
Church ;  or  that  any  of  the  doctrines  of  faith  which 
were  recorded  by  the  successive  writers,  were  then 
first  revealed  when  they  committed  them  to  writing. 
There  had  been  an  untold  amount  of  oral  instruction, 
by  which  the  Spirit  had  enlightened,  sanctified,  and 
guided  patriarchs,  individual  believers  —  the  Church, 
from  age  to  age,  prior  to  the  time  of  Moses.  That  in 
struction  being  extant  and  operative  in  the  faith  of  the 
Church,  and  being  exhibited  and  acted  out  in  the  ritual 
of  worship,  the  discipline  of  families,  the  practical 
duties  of  religion,  and  the  rules  of  life,  was  assumed  as 
being  already  known  to  those  to  whom  the  sacred 
writings  were  from  time  to  time  communicated. 

Thus  the  Church  was  instructed  and  preserved  dur- 
ing twenty-five  hundred  years  prior  to  the  age  of 
Moses;  instructed  in  all  those  revealed  truths,  ordi- 


PLENARY  VERBAL  INSPIRATION.  147 

nances,  institutions,  and  rules  of  faith  and  life,  which, 
concerned  acceptable  worship,  holy  obedience,  and  the 
way  of  justification  and  salvation,  through  the  media- 
tion, atonement,  and  righteousness  of  the  One  Re- 
deemer. "  The  Faith  once  delivered  to  the  Saints,"  was 
faith  in  those  communications.  "  The  Divine  Mediator 
having,  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  undertaken 
the  care  and  salvation  of  the  Church,  lie  it  was  who 
immediately  dealt  with  it  in  what  concerned  its  in- 
struction and  edification."  (Owen  on  Heb.  1  :  1.) 

But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  both  in  the  oral 
and  written  instructions  of  the  Great  Revealer,  much 
more  was  to  be  accomplished  than  merely  to  inculcate 
those  doctrines  of  faith  and  rules  of  obedience  which 
immediately  relate  to  the  salvation  of  men.  The  pro- 
phetic office  was  as  closely  connected  with  that  of 
moral  and  providential  Ruler  of  the  world,  as  with 
that  of  Priest  and  that  of  King  of  the  redeemed  people. 
He  who  in  the  exercise  of  His  prophetic  office  im- 
parted the  instructions,  is  He  by  whom  all  things,  in 
heaven  and  earth,  visible  and  invisible,  were  created, 
who  upholds  and  governs  all,  and  is  head  over  all. 
In  the  exercise  of  His  unlimited  prerogatives  in  His 
physical,  moral,  and  spiritual  administrations,  the  in- 
finite was  constantly  to  be  inculcated  under  the  con- 
ditions and  relations  of  the  finite.  Of  the  invisible, 
the  spiritual,  the  supernatural,  the  eternal,  no  concep- 
tion or  notion  whatever  could  otherwise  have  been 
imparted,  nor  any  ground  have  been  furnished  for 
faith  in  them,  or  any  words  supplied  expressive  of 
them.  But  these  instructions  behooved  to  be  con- 
sistent in  all  respects,  with  all  the  perfections,  purposes, 


148  PLENARY  VERBAL  INSPIRATION. 

prerogatives,  and  agencies,  of  the  Administrator  and 
Eevealer,  throughout  the  realms  of  the  dependent  uni- 
verse ;  and  to  be  such  as,  in  the  progress  and  the  final 
issues  of  the  entire  scheme,  will  appear  to  all  finite 
intelligences  to  be  consistent :  such,  therefore,  as  will 
eternally  vindicate  the  ways  of  God  to  man.  The  per- 
fect rectitude,  wisdom,  and  goodness  of  the  moral  and 
the  providential  government  of  God  ;  the  perfect  con- 
sistency 6*f  His  foreknowledge  and  ordination,  with 
the  freedom  of  man's  will,  and  all  the  mysteries  of  na- 
ture and  grace,  time  and  eternity,  will  at  length  be 
cleared  up,  or  at  least  so  far  as  to  render  their  consist- 
ency manifest. 

On  this  view  we  may,  perhaps,  discern  some  of  the 
reasons  why  the  sacred  writings  are  characterized  by 
such  diversified  and  minute  details  concerning  finite 
objects  and  agencies,  and  why  they  have  in  general  a 
historical  form,  in  which  those  details  could  be  exhib- 
ited, and  made  to  blend  and  harmonize,  on  the  one 
hand  with  the  superhuman,  and  on  the  other  with  the 
free  will,  free  agency,  dependence,  and  accountability 
of  man.  And  in  like  manner  we  may  perceive  how, 
during  the  primitive  and  the  patriarchal  dispensations, 
when  the  natural  was  also  officially  the  religious  head 
of  the  household,  clan,  and  tribe,  a  knowledge  of  all 
the  doctrines  of  faith,  and  rules  of  worship  and  obedi- 
ence, might,  without  a  written  revelation,  be  effectually 
inculcated  and  preserved,  by  successive  theophanies, 
and  direct  personal  teachings,  of  the  Divine  Revealer, 
and  by  frequent  interpositions  of  retributive  justice 
and  miraculous  power,  as  in.  the  punishment  of  Cain, 
the  deluge,  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  Sodom. 


PLENARY  VERBAL   INSPIRATION.  149 

The  entire  period  from  the  creation  to  the  Legation 
of  Moses,  or  rather,  perhaps,  to  the  death  of  Jacob, 
was  pervaded  by  theophanic  manifestations  and  direct 
oral  instructions.  A  new  dispensation  was  then  in- 
troduced ;  in  which  to  the  like  manifestations,  direct 
personal  teachings,  and  miraculous  interpositions,  was 
added  a  Theocratic  headship  and  government  over  the 
children  of  Israel.  Under  this  system,  a  retrospective 
history  of  the  earlier  period,  together  with  new  and 
renewed  revelations,  enactments,  and  instructions,  was 
committed  to  writing.  This  system,  modified  from 
time  to  time  in  some  particulars,  attained  its  height 
under  the  reigns  of  David  and  Solomon.  Its  decline, 
occasioned  by  the  idolatry  and  corruption  of  the  tribes, 
gave  occasion  to  the  ministry  of  the  prophets,  to  exhi- 
bitions of  fallen  human  nature  in  new  aspects,  and 
to  new  and  varied  instructions  and  manifestations. 
Throughout  the  whole  of  this  history,  as  in  the  prior 
oral  instructions,  the  contrast  and  correlation  of  Divine 
and  human  agencies  are  exemplified.  At  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  first  temple  the  theocratic  administration 
ceased.  With  the  incarnation  the  system  of  instruction 
and  manifestation  was  resumed,  or  rather  the  system  as 
begun  in  Eden  was  begun  anew,  under  new  conditions 
of  visibility.  The  Logos,  who  in  the  beginning  mani- 
fested His  Divine  nature  and  His  official  prerogatives 
in  the  creation  of  all  things,  now  appeared  as  God 
manifest  in  flesh  ;  taking  man's  nature  into  union  with 
His  person,  for  the  perfect  fulfillment  of  His  offices  in 
all  His  relations  as  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King.  God 
manifest  in  flesh  !  The  Infinite  under  the  conditions 
and  relations  of  the  finite !  "  The  Logos  was  made 


150  PLENARY  VERBAL   INSPIRATION. 

flesh,"  says  the  Evangelist,  "and  dwelt  among  us  ;  and 
we  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten 
of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth."  In  the  exer- 
cise of  His  prophetic  office  He  based  His  announce- 
ments and  instructions  on  "the  Scriptures"  —  His 
words,  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament.  His  official  acts 
and  His  personal  teachings  are  recorded  in  the  Gospels. 
In  the  other  books  of  the  New  Testament  are  contained 
His  teachings  by  the  inspiring  agency  of  the  Spirit 
through  the  instrumentality  of  men.  During  His  per- 
sonal ministry  He  manifested  His  Deity  in  union  with 
His  humanity  by  the  miraculous  exercise  of  His  own 
power,  by  His  acts  of  omniscience,  by  rising  from  the 
dead,  by  visibly  ascending  to  heaven ;  and  both  by 
His  immediate  and  His  mediate  teachings  and  acts, 
His  citations  of  Scripture,  and  His  fulfillment  of  types 
and  predictions,  He  demonstrated  His  personal  iden- 
tity with  the  Jehovah  of  the  ancient  dispensations. 
And  finally,  in  the  "Kevelation  which  God  gave  unto 
Him  to  show  unto  His  servants,"  He  declares  Him- 
self the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  the  entire  system,  the 
beginning  and  the  end,  the  First  and  the  Last,  the 
Eoot  and  the  Offspring  of  David ;  announces  the 
future  concerning  the  Church  and  the  world ;  and 
closes  the  canon  of  Scripture  by  an  emphatic  and  aw- 
ful warning  against  adding  to,  or  taking  aught  from 
His  words.  In  short,  as  He  was  officially,  in  all  ex- 
ternal manifestations  and  instructions,  the  Kevealer  of 
God,  and  as  His  manifestations  and  instructions  are 
made  known  to  us  only  by  means  of  His  written  words, 
it  follows  that  in  their  relation  to  us,  His  words  are  at 
least  of  equal  importance  with  His  works. 


PLENARY   VERBAL   INSPIRATION.  151 

A  Divine  revelation,  teaching  what  man  is  to  believe 
concerning  God,  and  what  duties  He  requires  of  man, 
must,  on  the  one  hand,  truly  represent  man  according  to 
the  constitution  which  6rod  has  given  him ;  and  on  the 
other,  must  exhibit  such  representations  of  God,  as 
man,  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  his  mind,  would 
be  able  to  apprehend,  and  by  analogy,  ascribe  to  the 
author  of  his  constitution.  As  man's  nature  and  facul- 
ties are  finite,  his  capacities  of  knowledge,  of  thought, 
and  of  consciousness,  are  limited.  The  Infinite,  there- 
fore, must  be  represented  by  such  forms  of  finite  ex- 
pression, in  works  and  words,  as  he  can  apprehend, 
sufficiently  to  educe  and  regulate  his  faith.  Such  ex- 
pressions will,  from  the  nature  of  the  subject,  indicate 
existence  and  realities  indefinitely  beyond  what  they 
distinctly  disclose.  They  will. enable  him  to  see  "as 
through  a  glass  darkly,"  and  to  believe  both  in  what 
he  sees,  and  in  what  that  indicates  and  necessarily  im- 
plies. The  reality  of  his  apprehension  and  of  his  be- 
lief, will  be  infallibly  ascertained  to  him  by  his  own 
consciousness. 

Now,  the  mind,  in  the  act  of  thinking,  conditions 
that  of  which  it  thinks — as  for  example,  in  respect  to 
time,  as  being  present,  past,  or  future  ;  as  to  degree,  as 
being,  relatively,  in  some  respect  more  or  less;  and 
so,  as  to  all  the  attributes,  qualities,  modes,  and  rela- 
tions of  that  which  is  the  subject  of  thought.  This 
process  is  realized  to  our  consciousness  in  the  words  in 
which  we  think.  Apart  from  the  words,  we  have  no 
consciousness  of  the  thoughts.  It  is  therefore  absurd 
to  suppose  the  mind  to  select — whether  with  or  with- 
out guidance — words  whereby  to  express  thoughts  of 


152  PLENARY  VERBAL  INSPIRATION. 

which  it  was  already  conscious  in  words.  To  suppose 
it  to  select  other  words,  is  to  suppose  it  to  have  other 
thoughts  differing  from  the  former  as  much  as  the  new- 
ly-selected words  differ  from  the  former  words.  If 
thoughts  are  conveyed  to  the  mind,  by  written  cha- 
racters, by  vocal  utterances,  or  by  Inspiration,  they,  to 
be  consciously  received,  must  be  conveyed  in  words. 
To  suppose  the  recipient  to  select  the  words,  is  to  sup- 
pose that  the  thoughts  were  not  conveyed  to  his  con- 
sciousness; but  that  both  thoughts  and  words  were 
original  with  him,  and  in  that  case  to  say  that  he  se- 
lected the  words,  is  merely  to  say  that  he  selected  the 
thoughts,  since  he  could  not  be  conscious  of  the 
thoughts  apart  from  the  words.  If  then — as  in  re- 
spect to  our  capacity  of  thought  being  limited  to  the  fi- 
nite, the  conditioned,  the  relative — our  own  conscious- 
ness is  the  proper  test ;  then  the  cherished  notion  of 
some  of  the  most  orthodox  and  most  excellent  of  men, 
that  the  sacred  writers  selected  the  words  whereby  to 
express  the  thoughts  of  the  Divine  mind,  is  erroneous 
and  delusive. 

The  question  whether  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  the 
words  of  God,  as  being  in  the  original  texts  His  utter- 
ances of  His  own  thoughts,  communicated  by  Him  to 
those  whom  He  appointed  to  write  them,  and  therefore 
His  words  in  the  same  sense  that  the  written  words  of 
men  are  theirs,  is  a  question  of  fact  to  be  decided  by 
evidence.  It  is  not  self-evident.  It  is  not  a  mere  mat- 
ter of  faith,  independently  of  evidences  intelligible  to 
the  understanding,  and  of  convictions  resulting  from 
study  or  from  the  inward  illumination  of  the  Spirit. 
Hence  their  Divine  Author  not  only  asserts,  ever  and 


PLENARY  VERBAL   INSPIRATION.  153 

anon,  that  the  words  are  His,  but  He  exhibits  a  variety 
of  evidences  and  demonstrations  addressed  to  the  rea- 
son and  conscience  of  man,  that  they  are  indeed  His. 
The  controversy,  verbal  and  actual,  between  Jehovah 
and  the  worshipers  of  idols,  false  prophets,  Satan,  hy- 
pocrites, and  unbelievers,  turns  upon  the  question  whe- 
ther or  not  the  words  of  Scripture  are  His  words  ? 
That  controversy  manifests  the  antagonism  between 
good  and  evil — between  Infinite  good  and^rafe  evil. 
The  words  employed  in  Scripture  respecting  it,  imply, 
on  the  part  of  their  author,  a  perfect  knowledge  of  in- 
finite goodness,  and  of  finite  evil,  and  of  their  relations, 
and  how  they  can  coexist.  Of  such  knowledge,  man  is, 
by  his  limited  faculties,  utterly  incapable ;  and  he  is 
therefore  utterly  incompetent  to  be  the  author  of  the 
words  of  Scripture  respecting  it.  The  use  of  those 
words  therefore  proves  that  they  are  the  words  of  God. 

Were  we  called  on  to  believe  nothing  which  we  can 
not  conceive  of  as  being  finite,  then  the  universe,  visi- 
ble and  invisible,  should  be  as  conceivable  as  any  of 
its  several  parts.  There  should  be  no  distinction  in 
reality,  or  as  an  object  of  conception,  or  as  an  object 
of  reasoning,  between  the  infinite  and  the  finite  ;  and  our 
consciousness  should  be  no  evidence  either  as  to  what 
we  conceive,  or  as  to  what  we  believe.  We  should  be 
reduced  to  the  necessity  of  concluding  that  there  was 
no  universe  out  of  our  own  minds.  The  philosophy 
and  dogmatism  which  have  this  issue,  are  sufficiently 
notorious. 

Were  we  called  on  to  believe  respecting  things  finite 
only  what  we  perfectly  comprehend,  and  what  our 
reason  dictates,  we  could  have  no  fixed  and  settled 


154  PLENARY  VERBAL  INSPIRATION. 

faith  whatever.  For  what  single  thing,  external  or 
internal,  do  we  perfectly  comprehend  ?  The  rational- 
ism and  infidelity  which  lead  to  this  issue,  are  abund- 
antly common. 

But  while  the  heathen  are  left  to  these  alternatives, 
and  show  by  their  systems  of  theory  and  practice,  the 
absolute  necessity  of  revelation,  the  Scriptures,  as  the 
words  of  the  Omniscient  Creator,  require  us  to  receive 
them  as  His  testimony,  and  to  believe  them  solely  on 
His  authority.  They  require  this  with  respect  to  one 
portion  of  their  contents,  as  much,  and  on  the  same 
ground,  as  with  respect  to  any  other  portion  ;  as  much 
with  respect  to  what  is  historical  as  with  respect  to 
what  is  doctrinal,  preceptive,  and  prophetic ;  as  much 
with  respect  to  things  finite  as  with  respect  to  things 
infinite.  Man  is  no  more  constituted  to  be  his  own 
original  instructor  in  any  of  these  things  as  they  relate 
to  his  spiritual,  moral,  and  accountable  being,  than  he 
is  constituted  to  be  his  own  moral  governor,  his  own 
saviour,  and  his  own  final  judge.  The  Creator  Him- 
self, therefore,  who  gave  man  his  constitution,  gave 
His  own  authoritative  and  infallible  words  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  for  the  instruction  and  direction  of  the 
finite,  dependent,  fallible  creature. 


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STAMPED  BELOW 

Books  not  returned  on  time  are  subject  to  a  fine  of 
50c  per  volume  after  the  third  day  overdue,  increasing 
to  $1.00  per  volume  after  the  sixth  day.  Books  not  in 
demand  may  be  renewed  if  application  is  made  before 
expiration  of  loan  period. 


DEC  8  ' 

39PW 
••'-•  n  Lr) 

oeno 

26Mar'64BC 
REC'D  LD 

MAR12'64-VFi 


DEC  2  J 1976 


JftN  2  3  fr? 


I 


. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


